Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
by Synth It Up
Summary: Brendan and May have just been tasked as Pokémon trainers, traveling the Hoenn Region trying to complete their PokéDexes. Along their journey, they run across Team Aqua and Magma who intend to awaken the legendary duo of Groudon and Kyogre, and many other trainers who hold many secrets about legendary Pokémon. REVIEWS ARE NICE! :)
1. Prologue Delta

_Hey! Just a few things before I get this Fic started._

_First of all, I don't own any of the trademarks associated with Pokémon and they are owned by GameFreak and The _Pokémon Company.__

_Second of all, I'm ditching the whole Pokémon being able to say their names thing. I feel like it's really corny and awkward._

_Third of all, there will be some adult themes as well as some teenaged themes, which is why this story is rated 'T'. There may be some offensive words and terms, so if you are easily offended then read at your own discourse._

_Next, with the whole mature themes thing, there will be some heartbreaking scenes. Not every character will have the same fate as the games would have you imagine._

_Finally (and most importantly), this story will be a fusion of ORAS and Emerald as well as a crossover between the games and the anime. Some scenarios will follow the anime (battles, trainers owning legendary Pokémon, certain plot points, evolution, certain type effectiveness) whereas other scenarios will follow the games (super effectiveness, contests, certain plot points, and dialogue)._

_If you spot a problem with any of this this, please don't hesitate to let me know! Your feedback is awesome!  
><em>

* * *

><p><em>Edit: I have started creating wiki pages for my characters over at pokemonfanon . wikia . com! Go check it out if you ever get lost in the story of forget who has what Pokémon. To search for a character from this story, simply type in their name followed by "(ORAS)". For example, if you wanted to search for Brendan, you would type "Brendan (ORAS)" into the search feature (without the quotation marks, of course).<em> I will also put links up on my profile soon.<em> Anyways, enjoy the read!_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Two years ago...<strong>_

**SKY PILLAR**

Up high in the air, a massive Pokémon kept watch on the people of the Hoenn Region. It blended in with the night sky as it made sure that everything was at peace. As it continued its flight, it suddenly felt as if something were wrong. Something was in its home... causing a disturbance.

It was a dark, stormy night in the southern sector of the Hoenn Region and seas were clocking up to three meters in height. The lightning was flashing wildly and the sound of heavy thunder pounded through the skies. The winds were so strong that they could have easily lifted buildings high into the sky.

However, far away from most civilization, there was a sealed tower that beckoned for help. It gave off light shining with brilliance of the seven colors of the rainbow, alerting a select group of people that something was terribly wrong. Something was there that shouldn't have been, and it needed to be removed.

A teenaged girl and her younger brother managed to surf to the forsaken island to the east of Pacifidlog Town. They were both drenched from the rain and tired from their journey. They would have flown there had the lightning not been dangerous for their Pokémon. Instead, surfing in the wild seas was without a doubt the safer option. Despite the terrible conditions they faced, they _had _to make the journey to the island as the fate of the world depended on their actions.

After traversing a small cave at the base of the island, the duo managed to hike up to the center of the island where the massive Sky Pillar stood. While it was clearly in disrepair, they could see that it was definitely regal in its prime. The windows were boarded up and there were large cracks in the walls. There were even some holes where it looked like intentional damage had been done. They approached the door and the girl pulled out a rusty old key from her pouch.

"Here we are, Ray," the girl told her brother. "Isn't the Sky Pillar amazing?"

She looked to be about eighteen years in age with straight brown hair and dark brown eyes. Her pink leggings and somewhat of a professional outfit made it appear that she did not look dressed for adventure in the slightest. There was this look of determination on her face that spelled nothing but danger for anything that crossed her path.

"I don't know how I feel about this, Olivia," her brother Ray replied quietly. "I feel like we should have brought either Zinnia or Aiden with us. They would have been extra protection."

He looked to be around sixteen years of age with black skater hair and deep brown eyes that resembled his sister's. His thermal jacket and khakis made him more dressed up for adventure than his sister, but still not as dressed up as he should have been. Unlike his sister, Ray clearly did not want to be at the Sky Pillar during a stormy night. He had heard the legends of the abandoned tower and did not want to disturb what lurked inside.

"Oh, don't be silly, I know exactly what I'm doing," Olivia replied. "After all, there's a reason that we could see the Dragonhark Altar glowing with a rainbow light from a distance. Ray, we have a job to do. The Hoenn Region _depends _on us."

"I'm not so sure I can back you on this..."

"I'm going to open the door now," Olivia said in a hushed voice as she slid the key into the keyhole. After fumbling it around for a bit, she heard a click and was able to push the door in. "Just be calm and I promise everything will be fine."

"Okay..."

The two walked into the tower slowly and took in the musky, dusty air with big breaths. It was as dark as the night inside and the dust flew about everywhere. They carefully walked the ruined halls of the ground floor until they reached the first ladder. On the wall was a massive mural depicting a large serpentine Pokémon in the sky in between two other Pokémon fighting a battle; one in the sea and one on the land.

Ray paid attention specifically to the serpentine Pokémon. The legends had said that it was the protector Pokémon of the Hoenn Region and that it roosted at the top of the Sky Pillar after it was done watching over the region. It was also said that this Pokémon was ferocious when disturbed and would stop at nothing to revert the world back to its state of balance.

"Should we climb?" Ray asked after he had finished inspecting the mural. He looked up at the ladder in front of him with worried eyes. "This ladder looks really unstable."

"We didn't come here for nothing," Olivia replied and clutched her hand on the first set of steps. "Now let's get moving."

The two carefully climbed up the ladder until they reached the second floor, which looked identical to the first save for an even more unstable floor. They carefully walked through until they made it to the next ladder. Like the first floor, the second floor also depicted a mural of the three Pokémon. This time, however, it appeared that the serpentine Pokémon let out a powerful roar and sent the other two Pokémon into a slumber.

"Look at this mural," Olivia halted to appreciate the artwork. "It truly depicts how powerful these Pokémon once were."

"Let's just keep moving," Ray tugged his sister by the shoulder and began to climb the ladder. "I don't want to spend so much time in this place."

After climbing the remaining ladders of the tower, the siblings were finally able to make it to the penultimate floor.

"We're almost at the top," Olivia whispered. "Let's be careful so we don't wake _it_ up."

"Shit." Ray's faced flushed completely as he thought of the large serpentine Pokémon. "I forgot we weren't alone."

"It's okay, we have our Pokémon with us," Olivia reminded him. "We should be fine."

"I sure hope you're right."

"Trust in them, Ray."

As they reached the last ladder, they could see that there was another mural. This time, the serpentine Pokémon flew into the sky with a meteorite high above it. There was a mass of DNA symbols flying out of the meteorite and into the Pokémon. The two of them used their knowledge about Mega Evolution to conclude that the serpentine Pokémon had reached the level of power required for it to Mega Evolve.

After studying the mural carefully, the two of them climbed up the final ladder and opened the last door leading outside. They could see that the top of the tower was well above the clouds. The duo walked outside and climbed up the final set of stairs until they were finally at the very top of the Sky Pillar, the Dragonhark Altar.

"Whoa, we are so far up," Ray marveled as he looked at the sky him. "This is incredible."

"Stay close to me," Olivia whispered to her brother. "We have to stick together up here. _It _might come for us."

"I was expecting the two of you," a deep voice spoke from the other side of the tower.

The two of them looked up at the top of the Dragonhark Altar to see a man in a red robe with wavy red hair. He laughed maniacally and walked down from the altar to approach the two.

"Maxie!" Olivia growled. "I should have known that the Dragonhark Alter gave off its distress lights because either you or Archie were up to no good. What business do you even have here?"

"The same business that you two have, as well," Maxie laughed. "I, too, want the Rainbow Meteorite and all of the secrets of Mega Evolution that it contains."

"Well, you can't have it!" Olivia shouted at him. "It can't go to the wrong hands."

"If you want it to be this way, I'll gladly have a battle here with you." Maxie crossed his arms. "Here on top of the Sky Pillar, looking over the rest of the Hoenn Region."

"As a trainer, I respectfully accept," Olivia nodded and pulled out a PokéBall from her pouch. She threw it forward with full force. "Latias, I choose you!"

In a brilliant flash of white, the red Eon Pokémon took form from its PokéBall in front of her. It cried once before facing Maxie dead in the eyes.

"So you have a legendary Pokémon at your disposal, huh? I'll go with you, Crobat," Maxie said smugly and threw his PokéBall forward. Crobat took form and flew in front of Latias.

The two Pokémon stared each other down before waiting for commands from their trainers.

"Latias, use Mist Ball!" Olivia commanded. "And make sure it hurts!

Latias formed a sphere of mist from its mouth and fired it at Maxie's Crobat. The attack was a Psychic-type attack, so it was super effective against Maxie's Poison-type Crobat. Crobat, however, managed to hold up just fine.

"Crobat, recoil with an Air Cutter," Maxie commanded.

Crobat batted its wings until they started to glow. With one more set of bats, it fired a wave of crystallized air at Latias. The Flying-type attack managed to do normal damage as Latias shook off the hit quite well.

"You could have used a Dark-type attack such as Bite or Crunch yet you failed to realize your Pokémon's strengths." Olivia shook her head. "This is where you come short as a trainer, Maxie. Latias, use Psychic!"

"Crobat, use Poison Fang!"

Latias took in air molecules and formed them into a sphere of mist in its mouth. It positioned its aim straight for Crobat's body and fired its attack. Crobat flew straight for the attack, took it with full force, and latched its venoumous teeth onto Latias's skin.

"Latias!" Olivia cried out when her Pokémon flashed a light purple to indicate its poisoning. "Stay focused!"

"Now who has the upper hand?" Maxie asked with a powerful laugh. "Crobat, use Air Cutter!"

Crobat batted its wings at lightning speed and sent waves of wind at the legendary Dragon-type Pokémon. Latias was too held back by its poisoning to be able to respond to the attack.

Before Olivia could command Latias to use her next attack, the entire Sky Pillar shook with ferocity. The three trainers stood atop the tower in shock at what was about to happen. They knew very well what the monster of Sky Pillar was. It knew they were in its home... fighting.

_It was not happy._

"Olivia..." Ray muttered in fear. "I knew this was a bad idea..."

"Return, Latias," Olivia said and called her Eon Pokémon back into its PokéBall.

"Giving up just like that?" Maxie asked with a smirk. "Pathetic."

"The meteorite..." Olivia said under her breath and looked to her side where it lay glowing. She ran over to it and picked it up with both hands. She threw it to her brother, who caught it while stumbling. "Keep that in your backpack!"

"Okay!" Ray shouted back as he opened his backpack, put the meteorite in, and zipped it shut.

"You can have it," Maxie said and hopped on his Crobat. "I intend on making it out of here alive. Crobat, fly me away!" In an instant, Maxie fled the scene.

"Olivia, I think we should leave now." Ray swallowed as the Sky Pillar shook yet again.

In the distance, the siblings could hear a deafening roar as the tower shook once more. They could make out glowing yellow lights form in the sky as it approached closer. The yellow lights got closer to them as they were able to see its full form as a green dragon; the one that was depicted in the murals. It flew to the center of the Sky Pillar and faced them angrily.

"Rayquaza..." Olivia said in broke words out of fear. "It's... it's really you."

The massive green dragon lowered its head to Olivia's level and roared loudly again with a terrifying voice that easily broke the sound barrier. Olivia, taken back in fear, jumped back at the sheer volume and power of Rayquaza's roar. It was clearly angry that the trainers tried to disturb its home.

"Rayquaza, understand us," Olivia began to explain. "Maxie wanted the Rainbow Meteorite for himself but we couldn't let that happen! We're here to protect you and the rest of Hoenn from danger!"

Rayquaza raised its head once again and roared while looking towards outer space. It looked back down at Ray and Olivia before firing a destructive Hyper Beam at them. Fortunately, they were both able to get out of the way before the attack got to them.

"I told you this was a bad idea!" Ray shouted at his sister. "Now we're going to die up here!"

"No we're not," Olivia assured her younger brother and thought deeply. After a pause, she smirked as an idea popped up in her head. "Don't you have that old Master Ball that dad gave you and told you only to use in dire situations?"

"Yeah, why?" Ray asked before his face flushed as he realized what his sister wanted him to do. "I'm not sure I like where you're going with this..."

"Well, since I used mine already, I want _you_ to catch Rayquaza."

"Wait, are you serious?" Ray asked with an expression of pure horror . "You want me to _catch _that thing? Do you realize the consequences that could come up if I caught the region's guardian Pokémon?"

"Yes."

"You've lost your mind!" Ray shouted. "I can't possibly catch Rayquaza!"

Rayquaza roared once more and fired another Hyper Beam. Once again, the two managed to dodge the attack as they took shelter behind the stairs.

"Does it look like we have a choice!?" Olivia asked wildly. "Do it!"

"Well, here goes nothing!" Ray exclaimed and flung his Master Ball at the legendary Pokémon. "Zinnia's going to kill me..."

Rayquaza roared again before being sucked in the Master Ball's warp. The Master Ball fell to the ground and started shaking more violently than a standard PokéBall would. It shook and shook and shook until there was a loud click and it stopped shaking.

Ray trembled as he walked over to his Master Ball. He picked it up slowly, afraid that the legendary Pokémon sealed inside his Master Ball would fly out and attack the two once again. He slowly put it in his backpack and turned to face his sister.

"Now what?"


	2. Welcome to Hoenn!

_Edit: I have started creating wiki pages for my characters over at pokemonfanon . wikia . com! Go check it out if you ever get lost in the story of forget who has what Pokémon. To search for a character from this story, simply type in their name followed by "(ORAS)". For example, if you wanted to search for Brendan, you would type "Brendan (ORAS)" into the search feature (without the quotation marks, of course)._ I will also put links up on my profile soon._ Anyways, enjoy the read!_

_**Present day...**_

**LITTLEROOT TOWN**

_Thud! Thud! Clank! Clank!_

It took a while, but the sound of banging metal was finally able to wake Brendan up. As his eyes fluttered open, he took a minute to absorb his surroundings. It was still dark outside... or was he outside at all?

Brendan stood up and adjusted his white fluffy hat, which could easily have been confused for white hair. It took him a lot longer to realize that he was actually in the back of a stationary truck. He walked slowly to the back, opened the hatch, and let sunlight do the rest. He squinted his eyes as he let them absorb natural light.

"Where... where am I?" He asked himself softly. In the near distance, he could see his mother standing in front of a house. "That must be my new house..."

"Brendan, dear, come take a look outside!" His mother cried out to him.

Brendan groaned and hopped off the truck and into Littleroot Town. Moving from the Johto region to the Hoenn region was a huge step both in terms of having to make new friends and trying to get used to the new climate. Hoenn was definitely a lot warmer than Johto, but it was nothing unbearable.

"I kinda like the air here," he commented to his mother. "It feels a lot cleaner."

"It's nothing like that groggy Goldenrod air now, is it?" She asked. "And besides, things will be much easier now with your father so close by!"

"Speaking of dad, do you think I can go visit him in Petalflurb or whatever it's called soon?" he asked.

"First of all, it's called _Petalburg_. And besides, the walk there is too dangerous without having your own Pokémon for protection," she told him.

"Speaking of which, I'm fifteen now, when can I get my very own Pokémon?" he asked.

"I'm glad you asked," she said, "Professor Birch next door actually told me he was expecting your arrival. I'm not sure what it was about, but he sure sounded urgent."

"You... you mean I could get my first Pokémon soon?" Brendan hopped up and down.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up too high, but it's an offer worth checking out. But first I want you to go inside and check everything out."

"Yup!" Brendan nodded and walked into his new house.

The atmosphere in his house had the new house scent as the mover's Pokémon were still fixing things up. Brendan found a set of stairs leading upstairs and slowly crept up, making sure he didn't do anything too sudden to break a step in his new house. He walked through the hallway and saw a door at the end. He presumed that it would be his room and walked in.

Fortunately for him, his mom had already set everything up. The only thing that he had to do was fix his clock. Once he had finished doing that, he took a look at everything. It seemed as if his mom already knew where he wanted his things and he walked downstairs with a wide grin on his face.

"Brendan, come over here!" His mom called him as she turned on the TV. "It looks like dad may be on TV!"

"Really?" Brendan asked and took a seat on the couch next to his mom

"_And that concludes our report on the new gym leader of the Petalburg Gym,_" the news reporter said. "_This has been Channel 7 News, thank you._"

"Well, it looks like we missed him," Brendan's mom sighed.

"That sucks," Brendan agreed.

"By the way, Professor Birch called while you were upstairs. He said he had a little something for you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he wanted you to head over to his house now."

Brendan smiled widely and darted out the door. He looked at the house next door. If Professor Birch was willing to give Brendan his first Pokémon, then there was no way he'd be late. He bolted over and quietly rang the doorbell. It was only a matter of seconds before a middle-aged woman answered the door.

"Hello, and who are you?" She asked with a puzzled expression.

"My name's Brendan!" He exclaimed with a smile.

"Oh, you must be the boy who moved in next door!" She said. "Come on in, we have a daughter about the same age as you."

"A... a daughter?"

Mrs. Birch led Brendan in to the living room where she offered him some snacks and a glass of lemonade. Afterwards, she walked him to the stairs.

"Our daughter is upstairs, I think," she informed him. "She was really eager to meet you."

Brendan sighed and walked up the stairs. The house was kind of confusing to get used to, but he was sure that the door painted pink was the one he was supposed to knock on. He took a deep breath and knocked on it.

"Come in!" A girl's voice shouted from the other side.

"Hello?" Brendan asked as he slowly walked into her room. The girl was browsing YouTube on her computer with a PokéBall lying on the desk next to her. "I'm Brendan, it's nice to meet you."

"Oh, what's up?" She asked and shook his hand. Brendan could very well that she was stunning. She had silky brown hair of decent length and wore a red bandanna over her head. "My name's May. It's nice to meet you, too!"

"So... what do you do around here for fun?" He asked awkwardly with his hands in his pockets.

"Well, as you can see, I'm pretty bored right now," she shrugged.

"Is that a PokéBall on your desk?" He asked. "How can you be bored when you have a Pokémon to train?"

"I only got my Torchic yesterday and my dad said I had to wait for him to give you yours before I could go on my journey. Speaking of which, I wonder where he ran off to..."

"So you mean it's true? I'm actually going to get my own Pokémon?" Brendan asked excitedly.

"Yep, but you have to go find my dad first. He's a wild card in terms of predictability."

"Hmph..." Brendan groaned. "I wonder where he could be."

"My best bet is that he's somewhere on Route 101 studying Wild Pokémon again. If you want, I could lead you out there."

"That would be cool!" Brendan nodded.

**ROUTE 101**

Sometime after leaving Littleroot Town, Brendan and May were able to reach a small grove in Route 101. Since neither were fairly familiar with the area, they had to be extra careful. Luckily, May still had a Torchic on her hand in order to protect the pair from any wild Pokémon.

"Huh, I guess dad's not anywhere nearby..." May frowned. "Sorry I lead you all the way out here."

"Not a problem at all," Brendan shrugged. "At least I got the chance to get familiar with the area."

"_Help!_" a voice shouted from the distance.

"What was that!?" Brendan asked.

"Hold on a second..." May shushed him.

"_Help! Someone please help me!_" the voice shouted again.

"That's dad's voice!" May exclaimed. "We have to go save him!"

The pair ran over to where it sounded like Professor Birch was shouting from. They were able to reach a small pond where it looked like the Professor was being harassed by a lobster Pokémon. Nearby lay a briefcase and two PokéBalls.

"Dad!" May ran over to him.

"Professor Birch!" Brendan ran behind her. "What's going on?"

"This Corphish is angry that I invaded its territory and now it won't quit attacking me!" Professor Birch informed the two.

"Leave my dad alone!" May shouted at the Corphish. "Let's finish this up, Torchic!" she shouted and tossed Torchic's PokéBall in the air.

Torchic chirped and landed on the ground from its PokéBall. It ran around in circles for a little bit before taking the field in front of Corphish.

"Alright, Torchic, get it with an Ember!" She commanded.

Torchic charged up little balls of fire before spitting them out. Corphish seemed to brave the hit from the not-very-effective Ember attack from Torchic. It shoved off the attack before going back to chasing the Professor.

"It's no use!" Brendan exclaimed.

"Please go into my briefcase and take a PokéBall!" Professor Birch instructed Brendan. "Maybe you can help me!"

Brendan ran over to the briefcase and picked up both Poké Balls. Confused about what Pokémon was in which one, he sighed.

"The one in your left hand is the Water-type, Mudkip," May said, "And the one in your right hand is the Grass-type, Treecko."

"Well, Grass beats Water, right?" Brendan asked. "I choose the Grass-type, Treecko!"

Brendan held the PokéBall in his hand before tossing it at the battlefield. In a brilliant flash of white, Treecko was sent out to take charge of the fight. Treecko hissed and stood in front of its trainer as it glared at Corphish menacingly.

"Treecko, use Tackle!" Brendan shouted. Treecko stood doing nothing, slightly confused.

"Treecko can't learn Tackle!" May informed him. "Try Pound or Absorb!"

"Huh, go figure," Brendan shrugged. "A Grass-type attack would do more damage in this situation, right? In that case, Treecko, use Absorb!"

Treecko charged up a mass of energy within itself before loosing red beams from its arms which latched onto the enemy Corphish. The Absorb attack drained Corphish very slowly of its health energy. Corphish was damaged from the hit and fell to the ground to try and regain its breath.

"It's working!" May cheered as Professor Birch ran by her side.

Corphish shrugged before its pincer started to glow a light blue. It swung hard and landed a powerful Crabhammer attack on Treecko. Despite Treecko being a Grass-type Pokémon while the attack was Water-type, the attack seemed to do a significant amount of damage.

"For it to use Crabhammer... it must be a powerful foe..."

Treecko staggered backwards before landing on one knee. It managed to struggle its way up before finally standing against Corphish again.

"Alright Treecko, send it back where it came from with another Absorb!" Brendan commanded.

Treecko hissed before blasting Corphish again with Absorb. However, Corphish was definitely a formidable foe and the attack still didn't seem to knock it out. In fact, Corphish seemed to brave the hit much better than earlier.

"Nothing's working..." Brendan growled.

Corphish charged its pincer once again before managing to land another Crabhammer on Treecko. This time, however, the attack was more powerful and managed to knock Treecko out.

"Treecko, no!" Brendan shouted and held its PokéBall in the air. There was a light flash of red and Treecko was sent back to its PokéBall. "Return!"

"There's only one way to settle this..." May grumbled before pulling a PokéBall out. She took a deep breath and threw it with full force at the Corphish. "PokéBall, go!"

The Corphish felt the impact and was sucked into the PokéBall's grasp. It fell to the ground and started shaking for a few seconds. In what felt like an eternity, the Poké Ball finally stopped and May walked over it to pick it up.

"It's... it's over." May sighed.

"And you just captured your first Pokémon!" Professor Birch exclaimed. "Now, let's get you two back to the lab!"

**LITTLEROOT TOWN**

May and Brendan stood in the Pokémon lab as they watched their PokéBalls get sent into the healing machine. In a matter of seconds, the machine stopped making noises and Professor Birch handed them their PokéBalls back. Instantly, both trainers let their Pokémon back out. May even let her newly captured Corphish get a bit of time outside of its PokéBall.

All three of the Pokémon seemed to be friendly with each other depsite the conflict that happened earlier. Corphish walked over to the two and rubbed them with its pincers to get a good feel of them. Treecko couldn't help but hiss happily in response.

"They seem to be liking each other," Brendan commented and watched the Pokémon continue to interact with one another.

"Even Corphish is having a little bit of fun," May giggled. "They're so cute!"

"Take good care of them," he told the teenagers. "Brendan, I trust that you will be a good trainer to Treecko."

"You have my word for it," Brendan nodded.

"Here are five extra PokéBalls in order for you to catch some more Pokémon with," he handed Brendan a set of PokéBalls. "And here is a PokéDex for you to keep track of any Pokémon you ever come across while on your travels."

"Thank you, professor."

"And May, remember to be a good trainer and train Torchic and Corphish just as equally," he reminded his daughter. "Your Pokémon need all the love they can get."

"Trust me, dad, I will," May smiled.

"And here's your PokéDex as well." The professor handed his daughter the second PokéDex.

"Thanks, dad."

"So, what are your plans?" He asked the two.

"You know how I want to try my hand at Pokémon Contests," May told her dad.

"And I'm heading to Petalburg City to beat my dad and get my first Gym Badge!" Brendan beamed. "And then I'm going to take on the Pokémon League challenge!"

"Well, in that case, I suggest you take Route 101 through Oldale Town and just follow the path. You should reach Petalburg City in no time." Professor Birch directed. "But first, please let your mother know where you're headed. I'm sure she'll want to say her goodbyes."

"Will do. Thanks professor!" Brendan thanked Professor Birch. He looked down at Treecko and picked the Pokémon up in his arms. "I should get you home! I'm sure mom would love to meet you!"

May did the same with her Torchic and Corphish, holding each Pokémon in her arms.

"Wow, you guys are really taking a liking for each other!" She smiled and nuzzled her head into each one of them. They cooed happily in her arms. "I should get you two home so you can get your naps in!"

Both Brendan and May waved the professor goodbye as they each went to their respective homes. Brendan had a lot to tell his mother and he wasn't sure how she would take it.


	3. Brendan's First Battle

_Edit: I have started creating wiki pages for my characters over at pokemonfanon . wikia . com! Go check it out if you ever get lost in the story of forget who has what Pokémon. To search for a character from this story, simply type in their name followed by "(ORAS)". For example, if you wanted to search for Brendan, you would type "Brendan (ORAS)" into the search feature (without the quotation marks, of course)._ I will also put links up on my profile soon._ Anyways, enjoy the read!_

**LITTLEROOT TOWN**

Brendan and his mother were packing things up after Brendan gave her the news that he would be traveling the Hoenn Region alongside Professor Birch's daughter, May. Treecko sat on the dinner table and observed the two humans talking. While Brendan's mother was going to miss him, she was happy that her son was finally going to be able to do what he had always wanted to do. It would be an exciting time for him and she was sure he would meet new friends and foes alike.

"So this is it, honey?" Brendan's mom asked him as she packed the last set of her home cooked meals into his backpack. Treecko's nose perked up and it sniffed the wafting aroma of the hot food. "Wow, Treecko seems to be taking a liking to the food I packed for you."

"I guess it likes your cooking, right Treecko?" Brendan asked. Treecko hissed happily at Brendan.

"So you're finally off the explore the world of Pokémon?"

"Yes, mom, and I couldn't be more excited!" Brendan hopped up and down. "I've been waiting for this day for so long, mom!"

"I know you have," Brendan's mom chuckled and handed him his backpack. "Anyways, I have everything you'll ever need in here."

"Thanks, mom." Brendan gave her a thumbs up and strapped his backpack on his shoulder. "Yup, this feels just about right."

"Wow, I can't believe that my boy is going to be a Pokémon trainer," she said as she wiped a tear off her cheek. "I'm so proud of you."

Just before Brendan could open his mouth, there was a knock on the door. Brendan hurried over and opened it to find May standing on the other side, adjusting the bandana on her head. While he appreciated May for offering him company on his journey, he still didn't know her enough to call her a friend.

"Oh, hey, Brendan!" May smiled. "Are you ready to leave, yet?"

"Yeah, I just had to pack my things up," Brendan answered.

"Bye honey, I love you," his mother sniffled and kissed him on the cheek. "Do great things!"

"I _know _mom..." Brendan groaned, wiping off her kiss. "Bye mom!"

**Oldale Town**

After leaving Littleroot Town, Brendan and May were finally able to make their ways through Route 101 and into Oldale Town. Being a very small town no bigger than Littleroot, the pair didn't expect to stay there for long. Brendan, however, wanted to visit the Poké Mart for the first time before they continued their journey into Petalburg City.

"Do we _really_ have to go visit the Poké Mart?" May groaned. "The sign in the town entrance even says that they're out of all battle equipment apart for Potions..."

"Hey, I need to study up as much as possible," Brendan replied defensively.

"It's not like there's anything to learn from a Poké Mart."

Brendan ignored her and continued his way towards the Poké Mart. To him, it was even more impressive in person than it was in the pictures. May, on the other hand, just facepalmed as she followed her traveling companion inside.

The walls of the Poké Mart were lined up with various Pokémon merchandise. The aisles were filled with various toys and books featuring Pokémon for children. There was another aisle dedicated to Pokémon medicine. However, the only things that the aisle had on sale were Potions.

"Hey, this place really isn't that bad," she shrugged.

"Yeah, if only it wasn't so empty," Brendan agreed.

"You two look like rookie trainers!" A voice exclaimed from nearby. A man walked over to the pair and handed them two bottles. "Have two free Potions on me!"

"Oh, cool, thanks!" Brendan took the Potion.

"Awesome, thanks!" May took the Potion, as well.

"Remember to always shop at the Oldale Poké Mart!" The man said before walking away.

"So should we get a move on our journey?" Brendan asked when the man was out of earshot. "I really want to get to Petalburg."

"I think I know where we should go..." May commented with her eyes glued to the map.

Brendan and May shrugged and walked out of the Poké Mart. If they wanted to make it Petalburg City before sundown, they had better head out as soon as possible. Spending time in Oldale Town was pointless as it had nothing much to offer them apart from free Potions. They figured that the west exit into Route 102 was the best way to go as it was mainly an open road which led straight to Petalburg.

**ROUTE 102**

The pair continued into the wilderness of Route 102, which seemed to look a lot nicer and cleaner that the previous Route 101. If anything, Brendan wanted to explore the area and try to find as many rare Pokémon as possible. May, on the other hand, still had her eyes glued to her Hoenn map. She scanned all of the routes and cities to make sure that she could plan their journey out carefully.

"It says right here that Petalburg should be the next city," May informed Brendan as they continued walking. "And after that we could move on to Rustboro City."

"Well then let's get there as fast as possible!" Brendan exclaimed before picking up his pace.

"Slow down there, cowboy," May pulled Brendan back. "I'm pretty tired and want to go at a nice, slow pace."

"Eh, you can be _such_ a bore sometimes!" Brendan groaned and slowed down.

"How do you know that?" She asked defensively. "We barely know each other!"

The two walked silently through a small grove in the route until they heard what sounded like someone shouting commands. Intrigued at what they heard, they crept slowly until they felt that they were nearby the source of the sounds.

"_Poochyena, use Bite!_" They could hear a trainer shout.

Brendan and May pushed some foliage out of the way and found a trainer much younger than them wearing a blue backwards snapback, yellow t-shirt, and blue shorts. He stood in excitement as he watched a battle between two Pokémon; one appeared to be a small hairy canine Pokémon while the other was a small bird-like Pokémon. It seemed that he was using his canine Pokémon, Poochyena, to fight a wild Taillow.

"What are those?" Brendan asked and pulled out his PokéDex.

"_Poochyena, the Bite Pokémon. It savagely threatens foes with bared fangs. It chases after fleeing targets tenaciously. It turns tail and runs, however, if the foe strikes back._" The PokéDex said. Brendan quickly pointed it towards the bird Pokémon and waited for it to scan. "_Taillow, the Tiny Swallow Pokémon. Although it is small, it is very courageous. It will take on a larger Skarmory on an equal footing. However, its will weakens if it becomes hungry._"

"Huh, well good luck catching that thing." Brendan told the kid.

"I won't need it 'cause I already got this one in the bag!" The kid exclaimed and threw a PokéBall at the Taillow. The ball hit the ground a shook a bit before finally locking up. "Looks like I just caught my second Pokémon!"

"So, what do you say we battle it out, then?" Brendan asked. "I'm sure both of our Pokémon could use the training."

"Are you kidding me, Brendan!?" May asked him urgently. "You've only ever sent your Treecko out once! What makes you think you can take on an experienced trainer who just caught his second Pokémon? He's going to wipe the floor with you!"

"Eh, everyone needs to start off somewhere, right?" Brendan shrugged. "What's your name?"

"Allen," the kid answered.

"Cool, I'm Brendan, and this is May." Brendan pointed to himself and then to May.

"I accept your challenge," Allen stood up to Brendan. "How many Pokémon do you have?"

"I've got my trusty Treecko right here." Brendan said and held up his PokéBall.

"That's it?" Allen laughed. "You've only got one Pokémon?"

"A good trainer trusts his Pokémon regardless of how many he has." Brendan told him. "Besides, it doesn't take much effort to school a kid."

"Whatever you say."

The two trainers stood on opposite ends of the patch of grass while May stood in the middle side. She held up her arms and pointed at the two trainers.

"This is a standard battle, both trainers can use as many Pokémon as they have, " she started, "When a Pokémon is unable to continue, it will be eliminated and cannot be used again. The winner will be determined when all of his opponent's Pokémon are knocked out. Are there any questions?"

Both trainers shook their heads and held their PokéBalls.

"Let's go, Taillow!" Allen shouted and sent his newly-caught Taillow out.

Taillow flew from where it was sent out and landed in front of its trainer. It chirped a few times before looking at Brendan dead in the eyes.

"Treecko, this battle is yours!" Brendan shouted and sent Treecko out.

Treecko hissed and stood in front of Brendan protectively. It narrowed its eyes as it observed its foe Taillow.

"Taillow, use Peck!" Allen shouted.

"Treecko, dodge it!"

Tailow flew up in the air and dove straight for Treecko. Treecko, however, had fast reflexes and was able to quickly dodge the hit.

"Good, Treecko! Now get it with a Pound!" Brendan commanded.

Treecko nodded and swung its tail at Taillow, smacking it to the ground. Since it was still freshly caught and had scars from its capture, it could not get up and May ran to its side. After a few seconds, she concluded that it was knocked out.

"Taillow is unable to battle!" May shouted.

Allen grunted and called his newly caught Taillow back in a flash of red light. He pulled his next PokéBall out and sent it to the battlefield. Poochyena emerged from it and faced Treecko.

"Poochyena, use Bite!"

Poochyena ran to Treecko and latched onto its tail. Treecko, in an attempt to swing Poochyena off, only made things worse for itself. Treecko hissed and winced as it fell to its knees.

"Treecko, get back up and use Absorb!" Brendan commanded.

Treecko looked up at Poochyena and then its eyes glowed a deep red. It launched the Absorb attack and hit Poochyena directly. It slowly drained Poochyena of its health with each passing second.

"Poochyena, get it with another Bite attack!"

Poochyena growled before lunging at Treecko again.

"Treecko, dodge it and use Pound!" Brendan commanded.

Treecko nodded and jumped out of the way of the Bite. Once Poochyena landed, Treecko swung its tail at it, knocking it out cold.

"Poochyena is unable to battle! Brendan is the winner!" May declared, earning cheers from her traveling companion.

"I... I lost..." Allen fell to his knees.

"It was a good battle." Brendan walked over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Promise that next time we meet, we'll both be strong enough to have a _real_ battle."

"I promise." Allen stood up and nodded. "I'm glad I lost. Sometimes winning takes away humbility."

"Wow, wise words for someone as young as you," May commented. "Anyways, we really should be going if we want to reach Petalburg City soon."

"I agree," Brendan nodded and left the scene of the battle with May closely behind him

**PETALBURG CITY**

Brendan and May finally made it to the gates of Petalburg City. Since it was dark outside, the pair stopped by the Pokémon Center to get a good night's rest. They figured that it would be pointless for Brendan to visit the gym at night and demand a battle from his father.

In the morning, Brendan would finally challenge his father to a Pokémon battle and formally begin his Hoenn Region journey.


	4. The Timid Boy

_Edit: I have started creating wiki pages for my characters over at pokemonfanon . wikia . com! Go check it out if you ever get lost in the story of forget who has what Pokémon. To search for a character from this story, simply type in their name followed by "(ORAS)". For example, if you wanted to search for Brendan, you would type "Brendan (ORAS)" into the search feature (without the quotation marks, of course)._ I will also put links up on my profile soon._ Anyways, enjoy the read!_

**METEOR FALLS**

Deep within the chambers of Meteor Falls, an important meeting took place. Who they were and what they were tasked with was a mystery to the rest of the Hoenn Region, but their work was important, regardless. Something bad was boiling up within the region and they would have to put a stop to it before things got out of hand.

Ten cloaked figures sat around a stone table and laid down a massive map of the entire Hoenn region. These people studied the map extensively as they took note of the red and blue marks on the map. A female with black hair cut down to her shoulders stood and faced the center of the map. She looked to be about eighteen-years-old with burning orange eyes.

"These are the coordinates I stole from Team Magma's master map in their hideout," the female said as she pointed to several red marks. "I know that there is clearly something in each of these areas that they want, but I'm not sure what it is."

"I'm not surprised that they have Mt. Chimney marked off," Ray, who was one of the cloaked figures, commented. He quickly scanned the map again to make sure that he got a full understanding of their important areas. "I'm surprised that you managed to get this from them, Zinnia."

"Thank you," Zinnia nodded with a cheeky smile. "It took a lot of hiding, but this is as accurate as it gets."

"What does Team Aqua want?" Olivia, another one of the cloaked figures, asked. "I can see Slateport City marked off on theirs."

"I'm guessing that they want easy access to the port," Zinnia answered. "Not to mention the fact that Captain Stern has some serious research hidden somewhere there."

"What could these guys possibly want from Stern?" a cloaked figure with piercing steel blue eyes and shiny silver hair asked.

"That's what I don't know, Steven," Zinnia shrugged defeatedly. "All I know is that Team Magma wants to increase Hoenn's land size and Team Aqua wants to increase Hoenn's sea area. Beyond that, anything is fair game."

"Damn..." Steven growled. "If they do anything to destroy my beautiful region, I swear I'll..."

"Whoa!" Ray exclaimed out of the blue. "Both of these goons have an interest in Mt. Pyre."

"Yeah, I'm aware of that," Zinnia said.

"Isn't Mt. Pyre where the Red and Blue Orbs are kept?" Ray asked.

The entire room fell dead silent. It was obvious now why the two organizations wanted to seize the Orbs for themselves. Nobody was brave enough to make eye contact with one another, so Zinnia eventually cleared her throat.

"They... they intend on... awakening the legends..." Zinnia mumbled, looking at her shoes.

"Are they stupid?" Steven asked loudly. "This could be disastrous! No - scratch that - this _will _be disastrous!"

"Yes, I know that!" Zinnia exclaimed in response. "But we've let both of them grow so large in size that it's going to be impossible to stop them!"

"We're going to need to build our own army from the ground up," a cloaked figure with turquoise hair and eyes said with a flair in his voice.

"Yes, Wallace, we're going to have to find more trainers that are capable of holding them off," Steven agreed. "We _need _as much help as we can get."

"I can scout for good trainers at my gym in Sootopolis," Wallace offered.

"I'll travel the Hoenn region looking for ideal trainers," Steven said and looked at the cities on the map. "I know that I will find at least one worthy of the challenge."

"Ray and I will do the same," Olivia nodded. "We'll fly the region watching battles to see if we can find any exceptional trainers."

"Good," Zinnia sighed and rolled up the map. "I guess this is where we split up, then."

**PETALBURG CITY**

It was early in the morning when the alarm clock in Brendan's room suddenly started buzzing. He jolted out of bed and let the sunlight from the windows fill his eyes. The alarm clock continued buzzing and Brendan fumbled around on the night stand before he was able to find it and shut it off.

"Whoa, I am so tired..." Brendan groaned and scratched his eyes.

He got out of bed and performed his morning ritual of brushing, showering, and changing before he heard a knock on the door. He opened it to find May standing on the other side.

"Well, it's seven in the morning," she said with a hint of tiredness in her voice. "Didn't you want to go battle your dad?"

"Yup, I'm all ready!" Brendan pumped his fist. "I've got everything all packed up. What about you?"

"Same here," May nodded. "Wanna head out?"

The two of them checked out of the Pokémon Center and headed outside. Since May didn't have anything especially fun to do, she figured that watching Brendan take on his father would be fun enough. She followed him all the way to the Petalburg Gym.

"Here it is," Brendan said and looked at the massive building. It was mostly wooden with Japanese style architecture. "Time to get my first Gym Badge."

"Don't be too cocky," May reminded him and followed him into the gym.

The gym's interior was designed just like an ideal dojo with wooden walls and scrolls with kanji lined up on the walls. It seemed as the entire gym was themed to act as a training center. Needless to say, it was practically breathtaking.

Norman stood on the main stage of the gym looking out the window. His arms were crossed as he was deep in thought, just waiting for another challenger. Brendan and May could tell that the gym was where he found peace and solitude with the world. As he heard footsteps behind him, he turned around to find the pair inside his gym.

"Well, if it isn't Brendan!" Norman called out to his son and walked over to him. "Your mother said you were headed over. Who's your friend?"

"I'm May!" May smiled and shook Norman's hand. "I'm Professor Birch's daughter."

"That's right, your father told me a lot about you," Norman smiled and returned the handshake. He looked curiously to Brendan. "Anyways, what brings you here, son?"

"I'm gonna beat you and get my first gym badge!" Brendan smiled and looked up at his father.

"Brendan, I really think you should train your Pokémon well before you go and challenge a gym..." Norman said and placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "You've just started on your journey."

"You couldn't even beat a wild Corphish..." May joked. "How do you expect to beat your dad?"

"But..." Brendan said before cutting himself off. His father was right, there was no way he would be able to defeat a Gym Leader by barely training his Pokémon. "I guess you're right, dad."

"Tell you what, there's a gym in the next city called Rustboro," Norman informed his son. "By the time you get there, you should have trained enough to take on the Gym Leader, Roxanne."

"You're right," Brendan smiled and nodded. "I'm gonna get stronger, get more badges, and then I'm gonna beat you!"

"I trust you will," Norman laughed heartily.

The doors to the Petalburg Gym slowly creaked open and a timid looking boy with wild chartreuse hair walked in. He took slow steps over to the three who were standing, watching him. He seemed to be the same age as Brendan and May.

Just by looking into his eyes, Norman could tell that this boy had potential. Deep within that timid soul was a trainer longing for adventure. A trainer longing for his calling.

"Um, Mr. Norman..." the boy started. "I'm thinking of... umm... visiting my family in Verdanturf and... I need... no... I _think _I need a Pokémon for protection. Is it alright if I... if I borrowed one of your Pokémon so I could... catch my own?"

"You must be Wally, correct?" Norman asked. "The neighbor's boy?"

"Yes..." Wally nodded while looking away nervously.

"Tell you what, I'll lend you my Zigzagoon right here," Norman offered and handed Wally a PokéBall containing Zigzagoon. "And Brendan and May will stand behind you so that nothing bad happens."

"Aw, thanks Mr. Norman!" Wally exclaimed. It appeared as if a smile started to form on his face.

"Here, I'll give you a few empty PokéBalls to help you get started." Norman handed Wally five PokéBalls.

"Oh boy, thank you so much!" Wally beamed and put the PokéBalls in his small gray satchel.

Wally turned to leave the gym with Brendan and May close behind him. Since he was seemingly very timid, it would take an extra set of eyes to make sure that he didn't accidentally get himself into deep trouble. Norman was sure that the kids would be able to hold up just fine.

**ROUTE 102**

The three teenagers made it to a small patch of grass in Route 102 that Wally decided would be a good place to scout for Pokémon. Brendan and May kept a watch on him to make sure he knew what he was doing. He took slow steps into the tall grass to make sure that he did not end up upsetting a powerful Pokémon into attacking him.

"So I just stand here and wait, right?" Wally asked shyly and continued to walk deeper into the grass, his eyes peeled out for any Pokémon.

"Yep, that's how it works," May answered.

"How long does it usually take? I can't seem to find any-AH!" Wally cut himself off as he noticed a wild Pokémon in front of him. It was a small white Pokémon with a green head which had a red wedge in it. "I... I think it's going to attack me!"

"Whoa, what's that?" Brendan asked and pulled out his PokéDex. He pointed it at the Pokémon.

"_Ralts, the Feeling Pokémon,_" Brendan's PokéDex began. "_Ralts senses the emotions of people using the horns on its head. This Pokémon rarely appears before people. But when it does, it draws closer if it senses that the person has a positive disposition._"

"Go, Zigza-" Wally held his PokéBall up before stopping himself halfway. It appeared that the Pokémon was looking up at him curiously, clearly intending no harm. "Wait a minute, it doesn't want to attack me..."

Wally knelt on the ground next to Ralts and stared at it for what seemed to Brendan and May like an eternity. Eventually, he reached out a hand to the Pokémon and it reached back to him. He stuck out his other hand, containing an empty PokéBall, and Ralts touched it back.

"I... I think it wants to be my friend..." Wally said quietly before looking to the two more experienced trainers. "_Does _it want to be my friend?"

"That's what it looks like," Brendan smiled. "Do you want to be its friend, as well?"

"I think so... I mean... yes! Yes, I do!" Wally exclaimed and looked back to the small Pokémon. "Ralts, do you want to be my friend?"

Ralts nodded slowly and Wally could see a smile form with its mouth. Wally tapped Ralts' head with his PokéBall and Ralts was sucked into the glowing vortex. The PokéBall hit the ground, shook for a bit, and then clicked. Wally slowly picked it up.

For the first time in his life, he felt like he had a purpose. There was this new found flame that lit in his heart - one that burnt with an undying passion. With a Pokémon now traveling by his side, he felt like he was invincible. He was sure he would become the very best.

"I... I... I captured my first Pokémon!"

Brendan and May couldn't help but smile at the boy. They were watching someone's personality completely transform in front of them, and they knew it. It was a beautiful sight and they were sure Wally would turn into an exceptional trainer.

"Congrats, bro." Brendan patted his shoulder. "How does it feel?"

"Unreal," Wally shivered. A powerful chill ran down his spine. "I'm a _Pokémon Trainer_."


	5. Hoenn's Protectors

_Edit: I have started creating wiki pages for my characters over at pokemonfanon . wikia . com! Go check it out if you ever get lost in the story of forget who has what Pokémon. To search for a character from this story, simply type in their name followed by "(ORAS)". For example, if you wanted to search for Brendan, you would type "Brendan (ORAS)" into the search feature (without the quotation marks, of course)._ I will also put links up on my profile soon._ Anyways, enjoy the read!_

**METEOR FALLS**

The deep interior chambers of Meteor Falls were relatively calm, as they always were. There was peace in the Hoenn Region for the time being with both Team Aqua and Team Magma being relatively quiet. The hooded trainers were busy training their powerful Pokémon in different chambers as they usually did every day. Things seemed to be going just as normal for this exclusive group of elite trainers.

Part of their routine was to fly under the radar. Some of these trainers were hiding in plain sight, but the public just didn't know who they were. Several conspiracy theories were thrown of their existence, but nobody ever dared to traverse the depths of Meteor Falls to confirm it. As such, their existence was generally just regarded to that of a rumor.

Additionally, nobody ever knew what they did. It was practically universally accepted that they were the group of trainers who kept the peace in the Hoenn Region, but their methods still remained unknown to the public. Some rumors suggested that these trainers had special bonds with legendary Pokémon across the world in case a power struggle ever came up.

The hideout was, to say it simply, beautiful. The caverns were lit brightly by massive crystals at the roof which gave off the illusion that sunlight poured in. Many different Pokémon that lived in Meteor Falls helped design the caverns with islands of land attached to the wall and other commodities to give the place a futuristic look. The water ponds that dotted the chambers were almost crystal clear and gave home to a plethora of Pokémon.

Ray, Olivia, and Zinnia were sitting by a clear water pond in the caverns watching a school of Barboach interact with one another. The Pokémon were peacefully swimming about minding their business and keeping their colony intact. Slowly, ripples started to form on the water away from the Barboach.

"That's cute," Zinnia commented.

"Hold on a minute," Ray shushed her. "How are these ripples even possible?"

"There are Barboach swimming around and there are people training their Pokémon nearby," Olivia explained.

"But this pond _never _ripples," Ray said. "And I don't think that one day all of a sudden the water just decided to start rippling to every little action in here."

"So what's your explanation then, genius?" Olivia asked tauntingly.

Ray didn't answer, but instead surveyed the surface of the pond. Just as he suspected, the ripples started to get harder and more violent as the seconds passed on. Something was terribly wrong.

"Look at the ripples," Ray pointed out to the girls. "They're increasing in intensity."

"You're... you're right," Zinnia finally agreed. "But, what's happening?"

Suddenly, there was a loud thud which sounded like large metal doors opening. The three trainers stood up and looked down to the edge of the chamber where giant metal deadbolted doors stood. The entrance to the chamber required traversing the dangerous caverns before reaching a series of ten deadbolt doors that only those with Key Stones could open. However, even if every other ordinary trainer had a Key Stone, it would still be a challenge knowing of the chamber's existence.

"What was that noise?" A hooded trainer with wild red hair and matching eyes asked as he approached the trio. He was somewhat tall and built in stature and had an intimidating face.

"Someone found our hideout," Olivia mumbled. "The bolts on the doors are opening and we have no idea who, or _what_, it is."

"Are you sure it's not just one of us?" The trainer asked.

"I'm positive, Aiden," Ray nodded. "I was keeping track. Everyone is here."

"Then who the hell is this?" Aiden asked.

"We have no idea, but you'd better stand back and get ready for a fight," Zinnia suggested and pulled out two PokéBalls from her pouch. "We're not letting them in easy..."

Aiden, Zinnia, Ray, and Olivia watched defensively and waited for the next set of doors to open. One after the other, the four trainers heard the doors opening. Finally, they heard the ninth door open, meaning that the next one was the final one. The final set of doors opened at last and about five males donning blue pirate gear stormed in. In the center of them was a larger male who seemed to be dressed like a captain.

"It's Team Aqua!" Olivia exclaimed.

"We know the Rainbow Meteorite is here," the leader of the group said. "Our scanners indicate its location to be this deep in Meteor Falls. It would make sense that the Hoenn Protectors would have it in their possession."

"You'll never get it from us, Archie!" Zinnia exclaimed and stepped forward.

"Yes I will," Archie declared confidently. "I _need _to harvest its power for my own good and you won't do anything about it!"

"Yes, we will!" Olivia shouted and threw a PokéBall forward. "Latias, get them!"

"I'm following suit!" Aiden exclaimed and flung his PokéBall as well. "Houndoom, take 'em out!"

"Let me get in this," Ray smirked and went for the Master Ball attached to his belt. He thought for minute and shook his head. Instead, he grabbed another PokéBall and tossed it forward. "Latios, join in on the fun!"

"We'll send you flying back from where you came from," Zinnia said and threw both of her PokéBalls. "Altaria, Flygon, you know what to do!"

The five Pokémon that were unleashed from their PokéBalls took form in front of Team Aqua.

"You think your Pokémon even stand a chance?" Archie asked. "You've got a lot coming for you, then."

"Shut up," Zinnia growled. "How did you even find this place?"

Archie and his grunts each threw a PokéBall forward. Two of Archie's grunts sent out Mightyena, two of his grunts sent out Crobat, and his Kabutops took center stage. The five Team Aqua Pokémon stood still waiting for their orders.

"Latios, go for the Crobat!" Ray commanded his blue Eon Pokémon.

"Latias, do the same!" Olivia nodded and commanded her Latias.

"Alright, Crobat, you can take them out," one of the grunts told his Pokémon. "Crobat, use Air Cutter!"

"We've got this," the other grunt said. "Crobat, back it up with a Steel Wing!"

"Latios! Use Luster Purge!" Ray commanded.

"Latias, use Mist Ball!"

Latios and Latias went straight for the two Crobat that were sent out by the grunts. Latios formed a Luster Purge in the air but it was quickly destroyed by the first Crobat's Air Cutter attack. Latias attempted to help out her teammate and launch a Mist Ball at the first Crobat, but the second Crobat managed to strike her hard with a Steel Wing.

"Altaria and Flygon, take out the two Mightyena!" Zinnia commanded her two Pokémon. "Use Aerial Ace, both of you!"

"Your air advantage is useless," one of Mightyena's trainers laughed.

Altaria and Flygon disappeared into the air in a small flash of smoke. In an instant, they flew at the Mightyena and slashed at them with all of their strehgtn. Even though the Aerial Aces were able to land hits on the two Mightyena, they didn't seem to do much damage. The two Dark-type Pokémon stood menacingly in front of their trainers, waiting for the next attack.

"They... they shook it off!" Zinnia exclaimed in shock.

"What do you have next?" the other Mightyena's trainer asked tauntingly.

"Houndoom, we've trained for this," Aiden smirked. "Take out that Kabutops and make it look effortless."

"We have a cocky one, don't we?" Archie asked and laughed. "Kabutops, take that pathetic Houndoom out in one hit with your Hydro Pump attack."

Kabutops charged a blue beam of water out of its mouth and launched it dead straight at Houndoom. As the attack made contact with Houndoom, water splashed everywhere onto the floor. Houndoom braved through the entire attack and still stood as if nothing had happened. It growled and lowered its head angrily.

Over at the sky battle between the Eon Duo and the two Crobat, Ray and Olivia were making good use of their Pokémon's type advantages. They kept on using Psychic-type attacks to cripple the Poison-typing of both Crobat.

"Latios, launch another Luster Purge!" Ray commanded.

Latios charged up his body before letting a loose of blinding light at one of the Crobat. It appeared to be the final stretch for the Crobat as it took the hit and fell to the ground, unable to battle. The Team Aqua grunt called it back almost immediately.

"Latias, follow suit with a Mist Ball!" Olivia commanded.

Latias followed an identical attack to her teammate Latios and charged up a powerful ball of mist in her mouth. When Crobat was in range, she fired it and it sent the second Crobat to the ground. Like the first one, it was called back immediately.

"That's how we do it!" Olivia cheered and high-fived her younger brother.

Zinnia was having ease in commanding her Altaria and Flygon against the Mightyena, as well. She was using the fact that her Pokémon had flying capabilities to her advantage as she kept the Mightyena at bay on the ground.

"That's how I like to see it!" Zinnia smiled. "Flygon, use Sand Tomb! Altaria, use Dragon Breath!"

Altaria and Flygon both went at one Mightyena each and loosed their attacks out. The Mightyena were able to hold on for a little bit but eventually the power of the attacks got to them and they both went down. Their trainers called them back.

"Don't mess with us," Zinnia stated.

Houndoom looked straight at Kabutops and roared powerfully. The super effective Hydro Pump attack did absolutely nothing to it. Kabutops stood back in fear and watched Houndoom wait for its orders.

"Alright Houndoon, use Flamethrower!" Aiden commanded.

"You have a double type disadvantage on Kabutops if you use Flamethrower, you wouldn't be so stupid," Archie laughed and insulted Aiden's battle strategy.

"Who said that types were everything?" Aiden asked. "All it takes is confidence."

Houndoom roared once and let loose a powerful Flamethrower that plowed straight through Kabutops. The attack clearly did more damage to Kabutops than Kabutops' attack did to Houndoom, despite the glaringly obvious type disadvantage. Kabutops could only stand for a while before it fell to the ground. Archie, with a look of shock on his face, called his Pokémon back.

"H-how?" Archie asked. "B-but that's impossible!"

"Never underestimate us," Aiden warned Archie. "Now begone, or we will unleash our true power at you."

In a flash, Archie ran from where he came from. His grunts followed him blindly out of the chambers in a sprint. Behind them, the ten doors to the deep chambers of Meteor Falls closed and sealed the trainers off once again from the rest of the world. The four trainers called their Pokémon back and turned to face each other.

"Well, we got that taken care of," Olivia said.

"We have a bigger problem at hand, though," Zinnia reminded her. "They _know_ we're here now. We're going to need better security and all that crap."

"We have an even bigger problem than that," Ray said. It was evident that nobody was catching his drift.

"Explain," Aiden said to Ray.

"Team Aqua was able to get in. _They have a Key Stone_."


	6. Petalburg Woods

_Edit: I have started creating wiki pages for my characters over at pokemonfanon . wikia . com! Go check it out if you ever get lost in the story of forget who has what Pokémon. To search for a character from this story, simply type in their name followed by "(ORAS)". For example, if you wanted to search for Brendan, you would type "Brendan (ORAS)" into the search feature (without the quotation marks, of course)._ I will also put links up on my profile soon._ Anyways, enjoy the read!_

**PETALBURG WOODS**

After dropping off Wally back at his house now that he was a Pokémon Trainer, Brendan and May continued on their journey to Rustboro City. The road there required cutting through the dark Petalburg Woods which was teeming with Bug Pokémon. While Brendan seemed just fine on the walk, May was shivering with every step.

From her early childhood, she had always had a major fear of Bug Pokémon. Something about their creepy crawliness and their ability to secrete venom did not sit well with her. That, coupled with an instance where she was sent to the hospital from a Dustox sting made Bug Pokémon a no-go for her.

Due to the tall trees and surplus of foliage, sunlight was barely able to crack through from the sky. Because this, it was hard for them to see what kind of Pokémon they would run into. That only made the forest creepier for May to walk through.

"Brendan, I don't like this..." May complained and stayed very close behind her friend. "I _really really really _don't like this."

"Oh, come on, every trainer goes through these woods _at _leastonce," Brendan told her. "It's not like anything bad lives is in here."

"But these Bug Pokémon are creepy..." May whimpered and shooed a Wurmple away that was too close to her feet.

"RAARGH!" Brendan suddenly turned and screamed. After seeing her facial expression change from fear to horror, he laughed loudly.

"Stop that!" May exclaimed in fear. When her heart rate slowly went back to normal, she was able to regain a straight face. "There's already enough scary stuff in here already."

"Relax, May," Brendan raised his arms defensively. "I was just messin' around."

As they walked through the deep woods, a small white Bug Pokémon took notice. It had four legs, small black eyes, and tiny green wings which practically served no purpose due to its size ratio with its body. The Pokémon took a specific interest in May and stared slowly crawling behind the two.

"You know, I think we're almost at the end of these woods," Brendan commented as he looked around the forest. "We haven't even run into one cool looking Pokémon for me to capture, either."

"There are absolutely _no _cool Pokémon in here," May replied with her arms crossed. "Nothing but creepy, crawly, weird, ugly, scary, stupid Bug-types."

"Hey May, what's that behind you?" Brendan asked jokingly, attempting to use a classic scare tactic on her.

"There's nothi-AH!" May shouted when she turned around and saw the small Bug Pokémon standing behind her. May looked away quickly in shock. "What _is_ that thing!?"

"Oh, I didn't there would actually be anything behind you..." Brendan sighed regretfully. "But that is a really cool looking Pokémon."

May stood in the same spot shivering. She didn't want to look at the thing, but she also couldn't take her eyes off of it. Even though it was doing absolutely nothing, it was still terrifying her.

"Oh, would you get over it?" Brendan asked. "You're acting like a child."

"I can't function with that thing staring at me!" May exclaimed.

"What even is that?" Brendan asked and pulled out his PokéDex.

"_Nincada, the Trainee Pokémon,_" Brendan's PokéDex started. "_Nincada lives underground. It uses its sharp claws to carve the roots of trees and absorb moisture and nutrients. This Pokémon can't withstand bright sunlight so avoids it._"

Nincada continued to stare at May despite her obvious disgust. Something about her attracted the small Pokémon. May shuddered in place as she had a small stare-off with the Pokémon."

"Shoo, go away." May waved her hands at the Pokémon hoping it would scurry off. Instead, Nincada just stood there watching her. "Oh my gosh, will you _puh-lease _leave me alone!?"

"May, I think you should catch it," Brendan suggested. "Maybe then it'll help you get over your stupid fear of Bug Pokémon."

"It's not a stupid fear!" May defended herself. "And Bug Pokémon are super weak anyways. Nobody even uses them!"

"That's a lame excuse. There's a gym leader back in Johto that uses Bug Pokémon," Brendan informed her. "And besides, I think Nincada looks like a cool Pokémon."

"Then why don't _you_ catch it?" May asked and pointed at her traveling companion.

"I'm not the one who needs a fear stomped," Brendan reminded her. "You can't lose anything by catching it. If you don't like it and it doesn't like you, then just let it go back where it belongs. If you end up liking it, then you have a new strong Pokémon to use."

"I guess you're right..." May responded. She pulled out a PokéBall from her pouch and threw it forward. "Corpish, I choose you!"

May's Corphish was sent out of its PokéBall in a beam of light. It faced Nincada, waiting for May's orders. Nincada, on the other hand, completely ignored Corphish and continued to look at May.

"Okay, Corphish, use Bubble!" May commanded. "Just get that thing outta here!"

Corphish opened its mouth and fired a flurry of bubbles at Nincada. Nincada felt the pain of the hit but made no attempt to attack Corphish back. It just continued to look straight at May curiously. May tilted her head in confusion as to what her next move should be. Even Corphish was confused.

"Should I just catch it or something?" May asked and scratched the top of her head. "It doesn't seem to care that I'm trying to attack it."

"Try it," Brendan suggested.

"Go, PokéBall!" May shouted and threw an empty PokéBall at Nincada. It shook a few times before clicking. May walked over to it and picked it up. "So I guess that's that? I have a new Pokémon?"

"I guess we move on, now?" Brendan suggested with a shrug. "The faster we can get out of here, the faster we can reach Rustboro City."

"Yeah, that's a good idea, I guess," May replied and took a good look at her surroundings to make sure that no other Pokémon was following her. "I think I'm just going to let Corphish walk with us outside of its PokéBall in case we get any other creepy crawlers tailing us."

The two of them walked with Corphish keeping watch behind them for a while until they saw a researcher inspecting a section of tall grass. He was tall and thin with messy brown hair, thick glasses, and a large lab coat. He was parting some blades over and looking inside for something. It seemed as if he were scouting for a Pokémon.

"Is everything alright?" Brendan asked as he approached the researcher.

"Yes, I'm just looking for a Shroomish," the researcher answered. "Have you happened to run into one on your way here? It's my favorite Pokémon and I'd really like to have one."

"No, unfortunately we haven't," May answered. "But can keep an eye out for one."

"Thank you, youngsters," the researcher nodded.

"You!" A voice exclaimed. "Devon researcher!"

A man in ragged pants, a blue striped shirt, and a black head bandanna with the letter "A" on it approached the group. As he walked to them, he slowly tossed a PokéBall up and down in the air. The closer he got to them, the more they could sense that he smelled like rum.

"Who... who are you?" The researcher asked. "What business do you have?"

"I was going to ambush you in Rustboro, but you seemed to wander off here," the man said and stopped playing with his PokéBall. "Team Aqua needs those Devon Goods and we know you have it. Hand it over or face the wrath of Team Aqua!"

"Leave him alone!" May shouted.

"Oh, are you going to protect him, little girl?" The Team Aqua Grunt laughed. "If you want to battle me, then go right ahead. I'll show you the true power of Team Aqua."

"Let's do this," May nodded and looked to her Corphish. Corphish nodded in unison. "Corphish, I choose you!"

"Go, Poochyena!" The Grunt shouted and sent his Pokémon out from its PokéBall.

"Corphish, use Crabhammer!"

Corphish's pincers grew a light blue as it slammed them against Poochyena. Poochyena staggered backwards before getting a grip on its footwork.

"Poochyena, use Howl!"

Poochyena looked towards the sky and howled loudly. For no longer than a second, it glew a bright red and its eyes shined with ferocity.

"Corphish, get it with another Crabhammer!"

Corphish let its pincers glow again and bashed Poochyena with them. Poochyena almost seemed to give in due to the pain, but it didn't let itself fall.

"Poochyena, use Bite!"

"Corphish, dodge it!"

Poochyena leapt into the air and went straight for Corphish. Despite Corphish's attempt to get out of the way, Poochyena was still able to get to it. Poochyena latched its teeth onto Corphish and pressed down. The extra charge from its howl was able to make the Bite-attack more powerful. Corphish didn't take the attack too well and fell to the ground.

"Corphish, no!" May exclaimed and called it back to its PokéBall. "Return!"

"What's your next move, little girl?" The Grunt teased.

"You're up next, Nincada!" May exclaimed and threw Nincada's PokéBall forward. Her newly caught Bug-type flew out and faced the enemy Poochyena with wide eyes.

"A Bug-type, eh?" The Grunt asked. "What a weakling. Poochyeha, use Bite!"

Poochyena leaped forward and bit its teeth hard onto Nincada's exoskeleton. Nincada took the hit as much as it could and still stood on its feet.

"Nincada, use some sort of Bug attack!" May commanded confusedly. She didn't know any Bug-type moves and it was the last attack type that she wanted to master.

"Try Leech Life," Brendan suggested. Growing up in Johto with the Ilex Forest being a place he visited often, he knew a thing or two about Bug-types.

"Nincada, use Leech Life!"

"Poochyena, get out of the way and use Bite!"

Nincada scurried for Poochyena with bloodthirsty teeth. Poochyena attempted to shuffle out of the way, but Nincada was too speedy for it. Nincada bit down onto the Grunt's Poochyena and began to drain its life energy. Since the But-type attack was more effective on the Dark-type Poochyena and it already took massive damage earlier from Corphish, Nincada's attack was the last straw. Poochyena fell to the ground in defeat.

"No!" The Grunt shouted and called his Pokémon back. He stomped the ground hard in frustration. "Dammit, I'll get you next time, mark my words!"

The Team Aqua Grunt turned around and ran off in the distance. May, Brendan, and the researcher all looked at each other, confused.

"What just happened?" Brendan asked and looked off to where the Grunt had run off.

"I don't know, but he said he wanted our Devon Goods!" The researcher exclaimed. "Uh-oh, it's a crisis! I'd better return to Rustboro!"

"We'll come with you," Brendan told him. "We were just headed there and it looks like you could use the protection."

"Would you two really do that for me?" The researcher asked.

"Yup, we've got your back," May nodded.

"Oh, thank you so much!" The researcher headed back to Rustboro with Brendan and May travelling closely behind.


	7. Stone Badge

_Edit: I have started creating wiki pages for my characters over at pokemonfanon . wikia . com! Go check it out if you ever get lost in the story of forget who has what Pokémon. To search for a character from this story, simply type in their name followed by "(ORAS)". For example, if you wanted to search for Brendan, you would type "Brendan (ORAS)" into the search feature (without the quotation marks, of course)._ I will also put links up on my profile soon._ Anyways, enjoy the read!_

**RUSTBORO CITY**

Brendan and May were able to follow the research to Rustboro with nothing getting in the way. The city itself looked old with tall stone buildings and cobblestone streets. Due to its olden state and the Devon Corporation being the only major company in the city, there was almost little to no pollution. The air was as clean as air in the Hoenn could get.

Upon reaching the city, the researcher split with the two and headed to the Devon Corporation. Wanting to take on the Gym Leader, Brendan tried finding his way around the city with May following him.

"Do you have any idea where you're going?" May asked her travelling companion.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing," Brendan answered. "I used to live in Goldenrod City, I know how to walk around a city."

"Really?" May asked and crossed her arms. "Because we just walked past that building three times."

"Just trust me," Brendan assured her. "We're going the right way."

"Hey brainiac, we just walked past the gym," May said and pointed to a building behind them.

"What makes you think that's the gym?"

"It's got giant glowing letters that say 'Rustboro City Pokémon Gym' on it."

"Yeah, I knew that..." Brendan mumbled. "Anyways, let's go inside!"

The two walked inside the gym with Brendan holding the door open for May. Inside the gym looked almost like a museum. There were displays of different rocks and fossils lined up in the hallways.

A pretty girl in a black dress with taupe hair stood looking over the displays. The way she was inspecting the displays clearly indicated that she was no tourist and that she worked at the gym. In fact, she may have even been the Gym Leader. She noticed the pair enter the gym and walked over to them.

"And who might you two be?" She asked them.

"This is my friend, May," Brendan introduced his travelling companion to the girl. "And I'm Brendan. I'm going to get my first Gym Badge here!"

"Well in that case you'd have to defeat me," the girl said. "My name is Roxanne and I'm the Gym Leader of this city."

"_You're_ the Gym Leader?" Brendan asked.

"Why, is there something wrong with that?"

"No, nothing," Brendan shrugged. "When do I get to battle you?"

"You can battle me now," Roxanne told him. "Just follow me to the battlefield."

Roxanne led the two over to a set of large wooden double doors. She undid a few of the locks and then opened the doors to reveal a grand, stony battlefield with giant fossilized Pokémon sculptures on each side. Roxanne walked over to take one side and then urged Brendan to take the other.

"So you said this was your first gym battle?" Roxanne asked Brendan as she pulled out a PokéBall from her purse.

"Yep, and I'm going to win hard!" Brendan pulled out his PokéBall as well.

"Very well, then. The Rustboro City Pokémon Gym operates under the Rock-type," Roxanne informed him. "I hope you're ready."

"I've never been more ready in my life."

"Then let's get this show on the road. Graveler, you're up first!"

Roxanne threw her PokéBall forward and the menacing four-armed Rock-type Pokémon took its place on the battlefield. Brendan took a deep breath and sent his Treecko out. Treecko took the side opposite to Graveler and studied its opponent carefully. Graveler was practically twice its size, so it had to be careful while fighting.

"You're move," Brendan said to Roxanne.

"Okay, then." Roxanne nodded. "Graveler, use Rock Smash!"

Graveler roared once and slugged one of its four arms at Treecko. Treecko was able to leap out of the way just in time as Graveler missed completely and stumbled.

"Alright Treecko, get it with an Absorb!"

"Good choice using a super effective attack..." May muttered.

Treecko turned to look at Graveler attempting to recoil and fired red beams out of its hands. The beams latched onto Graveler and started sucking its energy. Since the attack was double super effective, Graveler was severely cripped and fell to the ground.

"Graveler!" Roxanne exclaimed.

Graveler got up in pain and faced Treecko. Due to its Sturdy ability, it was able to withstand the hit with only a little energy left.

"Graveler, launch another Rock Smash! This time, use all four of your fists!"

Graveler rushed over to Treecko with whater little energy it had left and managed to get all four punches on target. Treecko ached from the pain of taking four rock solid punches, but was still able to keep itself in the battle.

"Treecko, use Pound and finish this thing off!" Brendan commanded.

Treecko launched itself in the air with its tail and then came swinging down at Graveler. When it had its aim perfect, it slammed its tail straight into Graveler and knocked it out with ease.

"Yay, Brendan!" May cheered and pumped her fist.

"Graveler!" Roxanne cried out and called it back to its PokéBall. She pulled out her second PokéBall. "This is my second and final Pokémon. Show me what you can do, Nosepass!"

The blue Rock Pokémon took form in front of Treecko. Brendan couldn't help but let out a chuckle once he caught a sight of its large red nose.

"What an odd looking Pokémon," May commented from the sidelines.

"I've gotta see what this thing is," he laughed and pulled out his PokéDex.

"_Nosepass, the Compass Pokémon,_" his PokéDex started. "_Nosepass had been said to be completely unmoving, with its magnetic nose pointed due north. However, close observation has revealed that the Pokémon actually moves by a little over 3/8 of an inch every year._"

"I'm gonna take this thing down like I took the last one down," he said.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, kid," Roxanne replied.

"Treecko, use Absorb!"

Treecko once again fired red beams out of its arms at its opponent. Nosepass took the super effective attack much better than Graveler due to it not having a secondary Ground typing and was able to stand its ground.

"My Nosepass is much stronger than my Graveler, Brendan," Roxanne said. "Good luck taking it down. Nosepass, use Rock Throw!"

Nosepass formed rocks in the air and hurled them at Treecko. Treecko was crushed under the pressure of the rocks and had trouble getting up.

"Now Nosepass, finish this battle off with Rock Tomb!"

Nosepass jumped into the air and landed back on the ground hard. The impact was powerful enough to create a strong quake. Before Treecko could get it, a powerful stone suddenly encased it completely.

"Treecko, no!" Brendan shouted. "It can't end like this!"

"Be strategic, Brendan..." May mumbled under her breath. "I know Treecko's not done yet."

"This is what happens when you get too cocky," Roxanne mumbled and shook her head.

Suddenly, the giant rock started to crack open. Both Brendan and Roxanne gasped as a blinding light filled the cracks of the rocks. When the rock finally shattered, a new, more powerful Pokémon stood in Treecko's place.

"Just in the nick of time, I suppose," Roxanne sighed.

"Whoa, did Treecko just evolve?" Brendan asked in disbelief as he pulled out his PokéDex.

"_Grovyle, the Wood Gecko Pokémon,_" his PokéDex started. "_The leaves growing out of Grovyle's body are convenient for camouflaging it from enemies in the forest. This Pokémon is a master at climbing trees in jungles._"

"Alright, let's do this!" Brendan cheered. "What's a good Grass-type attack you can use? I know, use Leaf Blade!"

The leaves around Grovyle's wrists started to glow a deep green as they took the form of blades. Grovyle charged straight for Nosepass and struck it rapidly with both blades. Nosepass flew back in pain but was still in the battle.

"Nosepass, don't let Grovyle get to you!" Roxanne snapped. "Use Rock Throw!"

"Grovyle, take those rocks out and then use Leaf Blade again!" Brendan fired back.

Nosepass hurled several rocks at Grovyle but the Wood Gecko Pokémon was faster. It used its blades to slice straight through the rocks as it flew straight for Nosepass. With two strikes, it knocked Nosepass straight to the ground, ending the battle.

"Wow..." Roxanne sighed and called her Pokémon back. "Nosepass, you did good."

"Yes!" Brendan cheered and ran onto the battlefield to hug his newly evolved Grovyle. "We won our first Gym Badge!"

"You earned it!" May exclaimed and ran over to her friend as well.

"Congratulations," Roxanne said as she approached Brendan and handed him a brown diamond-shaped badge. "You've earned yourself your first badge, the Stone Badge."

"Wow, thanks!" Brendan nodded and put the badge in his badge case.

"Additionally, any Pokémon in your party that can learn Rock Tomb will automatically learn the move if you have this badge in your possession," Roxanne informed him. "And as you saw, it's a very useful move."

"I don't know what to say, this is amazing," Brendan marveled and inspected his first badge. He looked over to Grovyle with a beaming smile. "And I couldn't have done it without you!"

"You really showed me the true power of your Pokémon," Roxanne said. "It's not this often that I see a trainer defeat me so quickly. In fact, the last trainer to do so ended up being the Hoenn League Champion!"

"I guess that means something, then," Brendan said.

"Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Only time will tell." Roxanne patted him on the shoulder. "Anyways, how long are you staying in Rustboro?"

"Probably just for tonight," Brendan answered.

"We weren't going to see much around here," May added.

"If you have a little bit of time, I'd recommend going to the Devon Corporation and getting yourselves each a PokéNav Plus. They're really useful for starting trainers."

"I think we will, then," Brendan nodded. "What do you think, May?"

"I don't see why not." May answered.

"Well then I'd recommend you head now, the building closes soon!" Roxanne said.

"We'll be on our way then!" Brendan started to head out with May and waved to the Gym Leader. "Thanks for the battle, I'll only get stronger from here!"

"When you get stronger, I'll be waiting for a rematch!" Roxanne shouted back as she watched the two leave. "He has crazy potential, I just hope he doesn't let that get to his head..." she muttered to herself when they were out of earshot.


	8. Lava Dome

_I have uploaded the character bios to my profile page! If you ever forget who has what Pokémon, you can just consult the links I posted. _

_Also, sorry this chapter took a bit long for me to upload. I had to rewrite it a few times after I originally wrote it. Anyways, on with the story!_

**SCORCHED SLAB**

"Great Leader Maxie, are you sure you know where you are going?" One of Maxie's admins asked him as they walked down the boiling depths of the Scorched Slab.

"Tabitha, have confidence in your Great Leader," Maxie assured him. "The rare Fire Pokémon is here, I am sure of it."

Maxie and Tabitha continued their descent into the Scorched Slab. Maxie had told him that he learned of the location of a powerful Fire-type Pokémon that would give him an edge over Team Aqua's exploits. As a result, Tabitha agreed to accompany Maxie on the search for this certain Pokémon.

In addition to his passion for expanding the Hoenn's land, he also had a secret obsession with legendary hunting. He was always intrigued by the mystery that surrounded them and the fact that they were only ever rarely seen. As a result, he went out of his way to find them in order to observe them in person.

The legendary Fire Pokémon that lived in the Scorched Slab was different than other legendary Pokémon in that it didn't control a balance of the world. Most legendary Pokémon had some sort of element that they were in charge of keeping in check, but this Pokémon on the other hand was just _there_. Due to its semi-useless status, Maxie could capture this Pokémon with almost no consequences on the world.

The two of them managed to make it to the deepest chamber of the Scorched Slab. Surprisingly, there was absolutely nothing there but a dead end. If anything, this Fire Pokémon could have just been a myth. However, Maxie was sure that the legends were right. He was sure that the Pokémon was there, but just possibly hidden somewhere.

"Great Leader Maxie, I don't see anything," Tabitha observed. Just to make sure he was seeing things right, he double checked around the room. "Are you positive that we are in the right cave?"

"I am sure this creature exists, the legends would not lie to me," Maxie stated. "It has to be somewhere. Just trust me."

Just then, they heard powerful stomping echoing in the chamber. It sounded as if loud metallic steps were being made inside the room, but they couldn't see anything nearby. The steps sounded as if they were coming from above them, so they both tilted their heads up.

"Holy shit..." Maxie mumbled as he saw the Fire Pokémon crawling on the walls with heavy steps. "It's more beautiful in person than I had expected."

"What is that thing?" Tabitha asked in awe with his eyes glued to the creature on the ceiling.

"They call it Heatran," Maxie answered with a smirk.

"Heatran, sir?"

"Legends say the first Heatran was created from the remnants of a collapsed volcano and takes its power in the fire burning within," Maxie informed his Admin. "It is truly a powerful legendary Pokémon, and it's about to become mine."

"Do you need my help?" Tabitha asked.

"Not yet, I plan on capturing it myself," Maxie said and shook his head. He pulled out a PokéBall and tossed it forward. "Heatran is a Fire and Steel dual type Pokémon. My calculations have told me that my Rhyperior is my best option in this battle."

The massive evolution of Rhydon appeared out of Maxie's PokéBall and onto the battlefield. Heatran tilted its head downwards and saw the two trainers along with the large Rhyperior in its chamber. Realizing that Maxie was a challenger, it dropped from the sky and flipped on its legs before it landed on the floor. It let out a powerful roar as it faced its opponent.

"Let this be a good battle," Maxie mumbled. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He would have to be calm in order to successfully defeat a legendary Pokémon. "Rhyperior, show no mercy with Drill Run!"

Rhyperior spun its main horn into a powerful drill and charged straight at Heatran. Due to Heatran's typing, Rhyperior's attack was able to do double super effective damage. Heatran was thrown back against the wall with great force.

"Good hit, Rhyperior," Maxie complimented his Pokémon.

Heatran let out a powerful roar and released a powerful vortex out of fire from its mouth. The vortex wrapped around Rhyperior from the ground up and kept the Pokémon in lock in the flames. Maxie and Tabitha could hear Rhyperior roaring from within.

"That looks like a more powerful Fire Spin!" Tabitha exclaimed. "What kind of attack is that?"

"That is Magma Storm, Heatran's most powerful move," Maxie answered. "I was afraid it would use that."

When the vortex of flames finally stopped spinning, Rhperior was thrown out backwards. The damage from the fire was too strong for Rhyperior, despite its body and type advantage, and Rhyperior collapsed to the floor.

"It destroyed my Rhyperior in one measly hit," Maxie mumbled with shaking hands. He looked at his fainted Pokémon with disbelief. "It was practically effortless."

"What now?" Tabitha asked.

"I will see what my next Pokémon can do. Return, Rhyperior," Maxie said and called his Pokémon back. If he wanted to defeat Heatran, he would have to play to its advantages. He pulled out another PokéBall and tossed it forward. "This time I choose you, Magmortar!"

Magmortar appeared from its PokéBall and took form in front of Heatran. Magmortar roared loudly and stared the legendary Fire Pokémon down as it waited for its orders.

"I'm sure that its dual Fire and Steel typing will prove to be a disadvantage to my Pokémon," Maxie said. "Magmortar, use Brick Break!"

Magmortar rushed at Heatran and swung its fist at the legendary Pokémon's head. Heatran felt the pain of the super effective hit but was not knocked back far. It shook of the hit and growled loudly.

"Good hit, Magmortar," Maxie complimented his Pokémon with a light smile. "Now don't give it a chance to attack with another Brick Break!"

Before Heatran could make its move, Magmortar slugged its other arm at Heatran's head. Heatran flinched in pain and was knocked back farther. This time, the hit clearly did a good chunk of damage. The Lava Dome Pokémon grunted loudly in pain.

"Finally, finish it with another Brick Break!" Maxie commanded.

Magmortar slugged its fist again, but this time Heatran was able to block its punch with one of its claws. Heatran used Magmortar's recoil to charge another one of its claws and slash it with a powerful Metal Claw attack. Magmortar fell to one of its knees due to the powerful hit but still remained conscious and in the battle. This toughness was the reason that Maxie was always fond of his Magmortar.

"Don't give up!" Maxie cried out. "Magortar, regain ground!"

Magmortar tried to stand back up but was then knocked to the ground again by Heatran's Metal Claw. Once Heatran had Magmortar pinned to the ground, it launched a powerful Magma Storm to keep it trapped. Despite Magmortar's entire body being composed of fire, Maxie and Tabitha could hear the Fire-type Pokémon crying for help within Heatran's flames.

"Not again!" Maxie growled and clenched his fists. "I can't let this thing take out all of my Pokémon!"

"I'll give you some ground, Great Leader Maxie!" Tabitha offered.

"Get Magmortar out of this vortex!" Maxie commanded his Admin. "I do not care how you do it, I just care that you do it!"

"Go, Camerupt!" Tabitha shouted and threw his PokéBall forward. "Help Magmortar out!"

Camerupt appeared from its PokéBall in between Heatran and the trapped Magmortar. Camerupt turned around and fired a Flamethrower attack at the inferno surrounding Magmortar. It reversed its attack and sucked in all of the fire that was surrounding Magmortar as it was freed from the vortex.

"Good Camerupt," Tabitha pumped his fist. "Use Erupt-"

"No, do not!" Maxie cut off his Admin. "Heatran's ability will only power it up if hit by a Fire-type attack."

"That's inconvenient..."

"But that's the way that this Pokémon works," Maxie shrugged. "Magmortar, get it with one more Brick Break!"

Magmortar pulled its fist back as far as it would go and slugged it with full force as Heatran's head. Heatran flew backwards and crashed into the wall. It slumped to the ground, motionless.

"Now is the time," Maxie mumbled. He pulled out an empty PokéBall from his pouch and threw it forward. "I will capture you!"

The PokéBall heat Heatran and sucked the legendary Pokémon up in its vortex. The ball fell to the ground and started to shake. Maxie and Tabitha clenched their fists as their Pokémon watched on. The PokéBall clicked loudly as Heatran was captured.

"Return, Magmortar..." Maxie sighed and called his Pokémon back.

"You too, Camerupt," Tabitha said and did the same to his.

Maxie walked over to Heatran's PokéBall and picked it up. At long last, he could finally call himself the powerful owner of a legendary Pokémon. With this new addition, he was sure that Archie and the rest of Team Aqua would have to beg for mercy on their knees. It was an advantage that he was extremely fortunate to have.

"That was a surprisingly easy capture for a legendary Pokémon," Tabitha commented. "I would have assumed there would be more of a fight..."

"And like that, the legendary Heatran has become a part of Team Magma's allegiance," Maxie stated. "I can assure you that Team Aqua will not be expecting this should we run into them again. In fact, I will use it to crush Archie myself."

"And what of the Protectors?" Tabitha asked. "Are you sure that Heatran can stand up to them and their own slew of legendary Pokémon?"

"Oh, I am more than certain that Heatran can stop them dead in their tracks," Maxie laughed maniacally. "You fail to understand that Heatran contains the pure power of Fire-types deep within its body. Our plans can only get better from here."

"Now what do we do, Great Leader?" Tabitha asked.

"Come back with me to the hideout with me," Maxie answered after a second of thought. "I will have to think of something. I'm not exactly sure what to do now but it is with great pleasure that I can admit we now have higher ground on Team Aqua."

Maxie turned to exit the Scorched Slab with Tabitha following closely behind. Now that Team Magma had access to a powerful legendary Pokémon, they were just one step closer to their ultimate goal. It would only be a matter of time before the Hoenn Region - no, the _rest of the world_ - would cripple to Team Magma's rule.


	9. Devon Goods

**RUSTBORO CITY**

Brendan and May left the gym to find that the night sky was slowly settling in on the city. Due to the city's olden look, there was a beautiful contrast with the cityscape and the stars in the sky. Living in the polluted Goldenrod City as a child, a starry sky was something Brendan had never seen before.

"This is amazing," Brendan mumbled as he looked up at the sky in awe. "I've never seen anything like it."

"It's really something, isn't it?" May asked. "Trust me, you haven't even seen the best of Hoenn."

"Oh, I hope I haven't," Brendan nodded in agreement before looking back to his companion. "Anyways, where is the Devon Corporation from here?"

"It's the tallest building in the city," May answered and pointed to an industrial-looking building which towered above all the others. "It really doesn't look like it fits in with the rest of the city, but I guess that only makes our journey easier."

The pair walked through the city's lit up streets and alleys in the direction of the Devon Corporation. Due to its hulking size over the rest of the buildings, it was really hard to lose sight of in the night sky. Additionally, the city's grid design made it easy to calculate the twists and turns.

As a result, they were able to make it in no time. Before they could even open the doors, however, it appeared as if there was some sort of commotion going on. A small crowd of people gathered at the entrance as several Officer Jennys prevented entrance.

"What's going on here?" Brendan asked and approached the Jennys.

"There has been a break-in," one of the Jennys answered. "They're saying that Team Aqua broke in, but the perpetrator could be hiding anywhere in the building."

Just then, the doors burst open wildly.

"Get out of the way!" A familiar voice cried out and rushed out of the building. Brendan and May could see that it was the same Team Aqua Grunt they shooed away in Petalburg Woods.

"No, give me back the goods!" The Devon researcher who Brendan and May had helped earlier came running out of the Devon Corporation in pursuit of the Grunt. He found the two and jogged over to them. "I'm terribly sorry to bother you again but this Team Aqua fool managed to steal our goods!"

"Don't worry about that," Brendan reassured the researcher and looked to the Officer Jennys. "We'll get them back. We know how to deal with Team Aqua."

"And we'll teach him a lesson that he'll never forget," May added. "We've already beat him once and we can do it again!"

"Then I'm entrusting this mission to you," another Jenny said. "_Don't _mess this one up."

"Oh, thank you so much!" The researcher smiled and looked to the two teenagers. "The Devon Goods are far too valuable to get in the wrong hands."

Brendan and May nodded in unison and turned to chase down the Team Aqua Grunt. It seemed that he ran out of the northeast exit of the city and they followed him down there. They weren't exactly sure where they were going but they were sure that they would eventually corner him.

**TEAM AQUA HIDEOUT, LILYCOVE CITY**

Since activity was minimal, things were pretty calm in Team Aqua's seashore hideout. Most Grunts were either busy training their Pokémon or were going through action plans set up by their leader, Archie. If anything, it seemed to be just a usual business day for Team Aqua.

Archie sat on his "throne" in his hideout pondering his next action to turn Hoenn into his own water paradise. In order for him to make his dreams a reality, he would have to stomp Team Magma in their tracks. Since they viewed a world of land as ideal, Archie would have to take them out of his way in order to pioneer his own vision. Archie was startled when he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in!" He shouted from his seat.

One of his admins, a female with black hair and blue highlights, a cropped blue shirt, and baggy blue pants walked in. Archie stood up and walked over to her.

"Shelly, what brings you here?" He asked her.

"Leader Archie, it appears that we had snagged the Devon Goods," she told him.

"Good, that should bring us one step closer to our goal," Archie thought out loud.

"However, we seem to have a little problem," Shelly added.

"What are you talking about?"

"Notice how I said we _had _snagged the Devon Goods. You see, the same Grunt who stole the goods was also stopped dead in his tracks earlier by two pesky little teenagers," Shelly told him. "This same Grunt is reporting that these two teenagers are chasing him down, and given his terrible track record, I doubt he'll be able to finish the job successfully."

"Those brats!" Archie spat out and slammed his fist on his desk.

"He informed me that the two have fantastic potential as trainers. I recommend that we keep an eye out on them. They may pose a great threat to us in the future."

"I do not like the sound of this." Archie scratched his chin and thought for a minute. "Keep them on our alert list. We must make sure that they do not bother us again."

"I will do as you ask, Leader," Shelly nodded and walked out of Archie's room.

Archie breathed deeply and continued to think at his desk. If these two trainers were as threatening as Shelly said warned him they were, then Archie himself would have to do something about it. He sighed and put his head down in thought. The one thing he hated the most was people getting in his way, and he would stop at nothing to eliminate them.

**RUSTURF TUNNEL**

Brendan and May managed to chase the Team Aqua Grunt all the way down through the forested Hoenn Route 116 up until they reached a large stone mountain. Since the route was filled with hills and trees, they were sure that he was able to get away from them in the wilderness. Hopelessly, they both sat against a tree in front of the mountain.

"We're never going to find him," May groaned.

"We can't just give up like that," Brendan shook his head. "He can't be hiding forever."

Just then, a pecular pink Pokémon with big yellow ears plodded over to the group. Without making noise, it began to tug at Brendan's shirt with its little paws. Confusedly, Brendan retracted from the Pokémon and pulled out his PokéDex.

"What even is this thing.?" Brendan asked and waited for his PokéDex to scan the Pokémon.

"_Whismur, the Whisper Pokémon,_" his PokéDex started. "_Whismur is very timid. If it starts to cry loudly, it becomes startled by its own crying and cries even harder. When it finally stops crying, the Pokémon goes to sleep, all tired out._"

"Whismur..." Brendan muttered to himself as the Pokémon began to tug at him again. It quickly let Brendan go and pointed to the mountain.

"It looks like it's trying to tell you something," May observed. "I think we should follow it."

"Looks like it," Brendan agreed.

The two of them got up from their spot and followed Whismur around the mountain. After a little bit of walking, Whismur led the pair to a small entrance into the mountain. Next to the entrance was an old man crying loudly.

"Peecko! Peecko!" The man kept repeating. "Peecko, where are you!?"

"Wait a minute... that's Mr. Briney, Hoenn's most famous sailor!" May exclaimed and ran over to the man. "What's wrong?"

"An evil man dressed in blue took my beloved Wingull, Peecko, from me and ran into that cave!" Mr. Briney bawled.

"That must have been what Whismur was telling us..." Brendan muttered to himself. "And that must also be the same Team Aqua person that took the Devon Goods. Don't worry, Mr. Briney, we'll get your Peecko back for you!"

Brendan, May, and Whismur ran into the foggy cave entrance and managed to make out a figure in the distance. Between the fog in the cave and its grayish-brown interior, it was hard for the two of them to see what exactly the figure was. As they approached closer, they could tell that it was the Team Aqua Grunt.

"There he is!" May cried and chased him down.

"You two again!" The Grunt growled and stepped back.

"That must be Mr. Briney's Wingull!" Brendan exclaimed as he saw the caged bird on the floor. "Let it free!"

"Never!" The Team Aqua Grunt pulled out a PokéBall from his belt and threw it forward. "You may have beaten my Poochyena, but try stopping Lombre!"

The green lily pad Pokémon appeared from its trainer's PokéBall in front of Brendan and May. It looked at the two trainers before crying out loudly.

"I choose you Grov-" Brendan reached for Grovyle's PokéBall on his belt before he noticed Whismur taking a step forward. "Whismur, you want to fight?"

Whismur nodded and hopped in front of Lombre menacingly. The two Pokémon stared each other down before waiting for their trainers' orders.

"Whismur likes to cry, right?" Brendan asked himself. "That must mean you can use Uproar!"

Whismur nodded and let out an earsplitting cry. Brendan, May, and the Grunt covered their ears as Whismur's Uproar attack filled the entire cave with a powerful wall of noise. It was so powerful that Peecko even trembled in her cage. Lombre slammed its own head to the ground to shake Whismur's noise away.

"Lombre, get back up and use Hydro Pump!"

"Whismur, don't let it attack you by protecting yourself with another Uproar!"

Lombre fired a large beam of water out of its mouth and straight at Whismur. Whismur, however, opened its mouth and let out another powerful Uproar attack and used the sheer volume to rip the Hydro Pump to shreds. By the time the attack reached Whismur, it was nothing but mist.

"No!" The Grunt growled. "Lombre, use Zen Headbutt!"

Lombre flung itself headfirst into Whismur and knocked the Pokémon backwards. However, Whismur was fully fired up from its Uproar attack and almost took no damage.

"Whismur, see if you can use a Pound attack!" Brendan commanded and pointed forward.

Whismur hopped forward and whacked Lombre hard with both of its ears. Lombre flinched back and fell to its knees.

"Whismur, finish the job with one more Uproar!"

Using all of the power it had left, Whismur opened its mouth wide and fired another Uproar at Lombre. Lombre couldn't take the headache from the attack and collapsed to the floor. The Grunt growled and called it back to its Pokémon.

"Damn it!" The Grunt shouted. "I was so close!"

"That's how we do it!" Brendan exclaimed and pumped his fist.

"Take the damned Devon Goods, I didn't need it anyway," the Grunt said and threw the goods at Brendan. He freed Peecko before running off.

"Well, that's over with," Brendan sighed and held tightly onto the Devon Goods. He looked down to Whismur and held out an empty PokéBall. "Do you want to join my team?"

Whismur nodded softly and Brendan tossed his PokéBall at it. Whismur was sucked into its void as the PokéBall fell to the ground and started to shake. Eventually it clicked and sealed Whismur's capture. Brendan picked up Whismur's PokéBall and strapped it to his belt.

"Should we head out?" May asked and picked Peecko up. She turned around and started to walk out of the cave.

"Wait for me!" Brendan exclaimed and followed her out.

The two of them walked outside the cave with Peecko in May's arms as they found Mr. Briney. Once he saw his Pokémon, he instantly stopped crying and stood up to take it from May's hands.

"Thank you two so much," Mr. Briney smiled and rubbed Peecko's head softly. "If you two ever need a ride across Hoenn's seas, I would be more than happy to be your sailor. I live just outside Petalburg if you'd like to drop by anytime."

"Thank you for the offer Mr. Briney," Brendan nodded. "And it was no problem!"

"It really wasn't!" May agreed. "It's our pleasure!"

With that, Mr. Briney started to walk off in the distance with Peecko on his shoulder. As he left their field of vision, the Devon researcher from earlier started to appear at the end of the horizon. He walked over to the two and noticed the Devon Goods in Brendan's hands.

"You two got our goods back!" He exclaimed as he reached them. "After you two didn't come back, I thought I'd track this fool myself, but I am once again in your debt! Please come back with me, I'm sure our president would like to have a word with you."

**RUSTBORO CITY**

The Devon researcher led Brendan and May to the top floor of the Devon Corporation. In the sole room was an executive desk with an old man sitting at it. He motioned for the two of them to approach them.

"Ah, you must be our company's two young saviors!" He beamed and shook their hands. "If not for you two, then we would have lost a valuable part of our deal with Captain Stern. Thank you two very much."

"It's no problem," May nodded.

"What are your names again?"

"I'm Brendan and this is May," Brendan introduced themselves.

"I am Mr. Stone and as you can see I run the Devon Corporation," he started. "We were once a hole-in-the-wall company that has now risen to running pretty much a lot of things in the Hoenn Region."

"Wow, that's crazy," Brendan replied.

"Anyways, without boring you two to death, I would like to ask a favor of you. I have a son named Steven who is doing some research in Dewford Town," Mr. Stone said and pulled out an envelope from a drawer. "I have a letter here for him that I would like for you to deliver. I know a group of traveling trainers cannot pass up a challenge at the Dewford Gym so all I ask of you is a minor detour."

"Yeah, I don't see why not," Brendan nodded and took the letter from Mr. Stone's hands. "We'll make sure this gets to him."

"Before you leave, I have something for you two," he told them and pulled two phone-like devices out of his drawer. "These are PokéNav Pluses, they are a necessity for trainers traveling across the Hoenn Region. I will give them to you two free of charge for your help."

"Thank you," Brendan said and took the blue PokéNav Plus.

"Thank you, Mr. Stone," May said as well and took the pink PokéNav Plus.

"Now, I don't want to hold you two up," Mr. Stone sighed and stood up. He shook their hands and pointed them to the door. "Thank you for all your help and get on with your adventure!"


	10. Hoenn's Story

**GRANITE CAVE**

Steven took a deep breath and examined the massive mural on the wall. It depicted an ancient drawing of two powerful Pokémon in some sort of conflict with one another. One of the Pokémon, a serene aquatic creature, clearly lived in the sea while the other one, a ferocious land creature, clearly dwelled under the Earth. The sea Pokémon had the symbol "α" on its fin while the land Pokémon had the symbol "Ω" on its hand. Between the two Pokémon were a group of people holding up two stones with a DNA double-helix misting out of each.

Steven had once heard the tale of the great battle that took place in the Hoenn Region eons ago and how the two legendary Pokémon had a power struggle for the territory. In an attempt to see the legends for themselves, ancient Hoennites intentionally resurrected the two legendary Pokémon, only to cause another war like the first one. A third Pokémon, one that not even Steven knew of, descended from the heavens in order to quell the war. After its efforts, it took residence in the skies above Hoenn to keep watch on any human who tried to make the same fatal mistake as the one that the ancient Hoennites made.

There was one thing, however, that Steven could not stop thinking about. Maxie, Archie, and their respective teams were attempting to make the same mistake that was made years and years ago.

"This is all very intersting," Steven mumbled to himself. "If these two are the legendary Pokémon that Team Magma and Team Magma wish to awaken..."

Steven's steel-blue PokéNav Plus began and ring and he urgently pulled it out of his pocket. He could see on the trainer ID that Ray was calling him. He clicked the flashing green "accept call" icon and put the PokéNav Plus to his ear.

"Yes?" Steven asked into the microphone.

"_Hey man, what are you seeing down there?_" Ray asked through the PokéNav.

"The mural depics an ancient battle between two Pokémon; one of the sea and one of the land," Steven explained.

"_Yeah, I know that. It's old Hoenn lore,_" Ray said. "_Is there anything else you see?_"

"The sea Pokémon has the alpha symbol on its fin and the land Pokémon has the omega symbol on its hand," Steven informed him.

"_That's... that's interesting,_" Ray pondered. "_I wonder what it could mean._"

"But wait, there's more," Steven cut in. "It seems that there are people worshiping these Pokémon with stones that look eerily similar to Mega Stones."

"_M-mega Stones?_" Ray asked.

"Yes, Mega Stones," Steven reaffirmed. "I am absolutely positive about this."

"_But, I thought Mega Stones had nothing to do with the legends..._" Ray mumbled on the other side of the line.

"I mean, there's no way this can be anything else. Everything about these look like Mega Stones."

"_I'm going to have to hang up on you,_" Ray said bluntly. "_There's something I have to do._"

"Whatever you're doing, be careful," Steven reminded his friend before hanging his PokéNav up.

He examined the wall once again to make sure that what he was looking at was accurate. It seemed as if both of the legendary Pokémon had the capabilities to Mega Evolve, or at least do something similar. If Team Magma and Team Aqua were to get their hands on the required Mega Stones, then chaos would surely ensue in the Hoenn Region. Something needed to be done about it and Steven could only hope that Ray had a plan up his sleeve.

**ROUTE 104**

After accepting Mr. Stone's favor, Brendan and May headed to Mr. Briney's house near Petalburg in order to see if they could take up his offer of a ride across the seas. Since they would have to go to the island colony of Dewford Town, they would need sufficient water travel. Being the most famous sailor in Hoenn, Mr. Briney was without a doubt trustworthy when on the waters.

The two companions managed to make it to Mr. Briney's wooden hut-styled home by the Petalburg Pier. After Brendan knocked on his door, the two could make out what appeared to be his ship parked on the dock. Eventually, the door opened slowly and Mr. Briney greeted the two with a wide smile.

"If it isn't my darling Peecko's two saviors!" Mr. Briney cheered. "By the way, I never got 'yer names."

"I'm May," May introduced herself and shook the sailor's hand. "And this is Brendan."

"Nice to meet you," Brendan greeted Mr. Briney and shook his hand as well.

"Please, come inside," Mr. Briney invited the two inside.

The two walked into the small house to see Peecko casually flying about. It looked as if Mr. Briney kept the tiny place extremely clean. Many pictures and posters of the seas were put up on the walls. Several statues and sculptures depicting ships and Water Pokémon were propped up on busts. Mr. Briney even had a small sculpture of his boat.

"Wow, you must really love sailing," Brendan commented as he took a look around the house. "This is incredible."

"I've been sailing since I was a wee little lad," Mr. Briney answered. "It's all an ol' man like me has grown to love."

"Speaking of sailing, we have a small request," May told the old sailor.

"Ask away," Mr. Briney replied.

"Is it possible for the two of us to get a ride to Dewford Town?" May asked. "We have a letter to deliver to Mr. Stone's son, Steven."

"Of course!" Mr. Briney nodded. "Anything for my darling Peecko's saviors!"

Mr. Briney led the two outside his house and onto the shaky wooden pier where his shiny white boat was parked. It had large red letters spelling "Lady Petalburg" on the hull. Mr. Briney unlocked the main door and let the teenagers on.

"Wow, this boat is so cool," May commented as she walked around.

"I know, it's so nice and clean," Brendan agreed.

"So you two wanted to go to Dewford, eh?" Mr. Briney asked as he took command of the ship's wheel. "It shouldn't be too long of a ride, then."

With the switches of a few gears and a few turns of the ship's wheel, Mr. Briney was finally able to pull the ship out of the dock. As he got the boat on its course for Dewford, he began to pick up speed. Brendan and May walked over to the edge of the boat and looked at the passing blue sea. The water was beautifully calm and the soft smell of the sea salt was soothing.

Several Pokémon were swimming and leaping out of the water. Brendan's PokéDex was active, registering the names of several Pokémon such as Tentacool, Wailmer, Sharpedo, Pelipper, and others.

"Wow, I've never traveled on Hoenn's seas before," May marveled and looked at the horizon in the distance. "It's so beautiful."

"There's no doubt about that," Brendan agreed. "I can't wait to see the different Pokémon that live in Dewford."

**MT. PYRE**

"Do you know how ridiculous this sounds?" Zinnia asked Ray as she climbed to the foggy peak of Mt. Pyre with him and Olivla.

Mt. Pyre was probably the most depressing part of the Hoenn Region. It served as the resting place for dead Pokémon and was the final stop on their journey through Earth. While the inside of the mountain appeared as catacombs, the outside of the mountain acted as a mass graveyard with a long, winding stiarcase leading to the top.

After Ray's PokéNav conversation with Steven, he was convinced that he knew what Maxie and Archie were after. As a result, his only hope was to climb Mt. Pyre and hear from the mountain's keepers whether what Steven was saying was true. He brought Olivia and Zinnia along with him in case anything bad were to ever happen.

"Right now anything is fair game," Ray told her. "If we don't take precaution, then either of these idiotic teams can completely take over the Hoenn Region."

"Sometimes you make zero sense," Olivia shook her head. "Actually, scratch that, you _never _make sense."

"You're telling this to the person who has saved your ass on many occasions," Ray reminded his sister.

"Oh, please, name _one _time that's happened," Olivia groaned and crossed her arms.

"Well, there was that one time you wanted to explore Shoal Cave without a jacket and almost got hypothermia, there was that one time you told me that a legendary Pokémon lived in the Scorched Slab and you almost got burnt trying to catch it, there was that incident on Sky Pillar, and there was-"

"You guys went to Sky Pillar?" Zinnia interrupted and asked.

Ray realized his mistake once he uttered the tower's name. Zinnia's favorite Pokémon was Rayquaza and she spent her entire life tracking it down. It would be devastating for her to learn that Ray witnessed the Pokémon's true power and even captured it for himself.

"Well, we wanted to see what it was like and stuff..." Ray scratched the back of his head and continued to climb the mountain slowly. "It really wasn't that big of a deal. Just thought I'd poke fun at Olivia for it."

"Yeah..." Olivia awkwardly agreed and silently climbed up the mountain.

The trio finally managed to reach the summit of the mountain without saying much after their initial conversation. As usual, the old couple that watched over Mt. Pyre was still there waiting for trainers to hear their tale of the great Hoenn war.

"Honey, we have visitors," the old woman on the peak mumbled to her husband before slowly approaching the trio. "And who might the three of you be? You all look awfully tired."

"We have come with a warning," Ray began with a huff and a puff. "Team Magma and Team Aqua intend on stealing the Red and Blue Orbs in order to awaken the legends of Hoenn."

"Why would they do that?" The old man asked, confused. "Are they out of their minds?"

"'Out of their minds' is a compliment for their insanity," Olivia added. "Who knows what could happen if they got their hands on the orbs?"

Ray noticed the two orbs sitting on pedestals behind the old couple. The Blue Orb had the symbol "α" engraved on it while the Red Orb had the symbol "Ω" engraved on it. Steven must have been right about these stones acting as Mega Stones for the legendary Pokémon.

"They want to use the orbs as Mega Stones," Ray stated. "They see the power for what it truly is."

"That's preposterous!" The old woman exclaimed. "They could destroy the Hoenn Region!"

"Even worse... _the world,_" Zinnia mumbled.

The old couple walked over to the pedestals and inspected the orbs carefully. Ray, Zinnia, and Olivia followed the couple in order to get a closer look at the orbs for themselves. They were almost like beautiful gems, a ruby and a sapphire.

"Do you know the legend of the Hoenn Region?" The old woman finally asked. The trio shook their heads. "Come, come, take a seat on the grass. Let me tell you how the Hoenn Region came to be."

The couple led the trio to a small clearing in the grass and they all sat down.

"In the beginning times, there was no such thing as the Hoenn Region," the old woman began. "The world was being crafted by powerful Pokémon and our homeland was just another part of the large ocean."

"But as time passed, two Pokémon's paths crossed under the surface of the Earth," the old man continued. "Kyogre, the Sea Basin Pokémon, swam the oceans looking for a home while Groudon, the Continent Pokémon, traveled with the magma in the Earth's interior."

"When both Pokémon met in the same area - Kyogre in the water and Groudon in the magma - they both wanted the territory for themselves," the old woman switched off. "A terrible war ensued as the two Pokémon fought for the area. Groudon used powerful Ground-type attacks to create the land while Kyogre used powerful Water-type attacks to make sure that the new piece of land still had portions of the seas along with other fresh water bodies. Such was the beginning of the Hoenn Region."

"These Pokémon lived in harmony together until one day they both decided that they wanted a larger slice of the territory," the old man informed the trio. "Again, these two legendary Pokémon started a cataclysmic war which had no end. Eventually, these Pokémon had their powers drained drastically as they were converted into these two orbs here."

"Once these Pokémon had lost a great amount of their power in these orbs, they retreated to secluded locations in order to slumber," the old woman said. "What this has to do with Mega Stones is beyond my knowledge, but I can understand the connection."

"And such is the story of the Hoenn Region," the old man concluded. "Or such is all we can tell you for now."

"Thank you very much for your information," Ray thanked the couple as he got up along with the girls.

"If anything were to ever come up, call for us," Olivia told the two.

"But who are you three?" The old woman asked.

"We are the Hoenn Protectors," Zinnia answered with a smirk.

"Th-the Hoenn Protectors?" The old man asked, startled. "B-but it can't be!"

"I thought you were only a rumor!" The old woman exclaimed.

Without saying a word, the trio continued their descent down Mt. Pyre. They would stop at nothing to prevent Maxie and Archie from gaining control of the orbs.


	11. Dewford

**DEWFORD TOWN**

Mr. Briney's ship slowed down as it approached the quiet beach island of Dewford. Brendan, who took a nap on one of the long chairs on the ship's deck, was awakened by the sound of Pelipper squawking. He could feel that the boat stopped and slowly sat up on his seat. With a large whiff of the air, he could smell the warm, salty sea air.

Dewford Town was just a small village of tropical huts on the island. Due to its secluded and remote location, it was not a popular vacation spot and almost never had any tourists. As such, the island was nothing short of paradise for the teenagers.

"Isn't is amazing?" May asked Brendan when he was finally fully awake.

"It's so peaceful," Brendan marveled at the island.

"Well, here we are," Mr. Briney announced and parked his boat at Dewford's tiny dock.

Brendan and May quickly grabbed their belongings and headed for the door. As they exited the ship, Brendan turned to face Mr. Briney.

"What time should we be back?" He asked.

"You two stay as long as you want," Mr. Briney announced. "Anything for my darling Peecko's two saviors."

With that, the two teenagers left the dock and walked across the beach to the main town. Unlike Rustboro and Petalburg, Dewford was just a tiny beach colony and was peaceful and quiet as opposed to loud and busy. Brendan especially took a liking to the town since it was nothing like he had seen in the Johto Region.

Since there was a gym in the town, Brendan thought it would be a good idea to check it out so he could get his next badge. May, on the other hand, thought it would be best to go find Steven. By splitting up, they could get everything they needed done without holding Mr. Briney up.

As they approached the main island colony, they both stopped walking to face each other.

"I think this is where we should go our separate ways for now," May said.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," Brendan agreed. "You go looking for this Steven guy and I'll take on the gym."

"Got it," May nodded and the two of them walked in opposite directions.

Brendan walked to the southern end of the island where the Dewford Gym was. He could see a large building in the near distance which looked out of place, so he assumed it was the gym. As he approached the building, he could see that it actually _was _a gym - a fitness gym, to be exact. He shrugged and walked inside.

The gym, like the outside suggested, looked more like a fitness gym than it did a Pokémon Gym. Treadmills, exercise cycles, and benches lined up the walls as people were busy working out. For a small town, there sure were a lot of bodybuilders. At the front desk, there was a man in a combat suit with wild blue hair and bright orange goggles strapped on his head.

"Do you know where the Gym Leader is?" Brendan asked as he approached the man working at the desk.

"That would be me, bro," the man answered and stood up. He reached his arm across the desk to shake Brendan's hand. "The name's Brawly, dude."

"Brendan, nice to meet you... uhh... bro," Brendan returned the handshake. "Anyways... uhh... bro... when do you think we can get a battle started?"

"Dude, we can get a battle started right now, bro," Brawly answered. "If you'd just follow me, dude."

Brawly led Brendan through the gym and to a raised platform at the end. There was a panel sticking out of the ground and as Brawly pressed buttons, the platform started to descent into the ground.

"So, what type do you specialize in?" Brendan asked.

"Here at the Dewford Gym we focus on the sheer power of Fighting-types, man."

"Go figure..."

"What's that supposed to mean, brochocho?"

"Nothing, it's just that you're _jacked_. It's no surprise that you spend your time training fighting types," Brendan shrugged.

"Thanks, bro, I guess?"

The platform continued its descent until it reached a room which looked like a battlefield. Brawly stepped off and led Brendan over to his side.

"Well, here we are, dude," Brawly told the teenager. "I hope you picked your team carefully, homey. This'll be a two-on-two battle, bro."

"Perfect," Brendan nodded. He had two Pokémon at his disposal that he was very confident in.

"Let's get this battle started, man," Brawly said and pulled a PokéBall out from his belt. "I choose you, Machop!"

Brawly threw his PokéBall forward and the blue Fighting-type Pokémon appeared in a flash from its PokéBall into the battlefield. It stood in a defensive stance as it waited for Brendan's choice.

"I'm going to have to go with you, Whismur!" Brendan shouted and threw his PokéBall forward as well.

Whismur flew out of its PokéBall and landed on the ground in front of Machop. It cried quietly and waited for Brendan's orders.

"Alright Whismur, use Uproar!" Brendan commanded with a pump of the fist.

Whismur opened its mouth as wide as it could and let out a harsh beam of pure noise. Machop covered its head in pain but was still able to live through the attack.

"Machop, use Karate Chop!" Brawly shouted and pointed forward.

Machop held its hands at an angle and sliced straight at Whismur. The super effective Fighting-type attack sent the Normal-type Whismur flying backwards in pain. Whismur slowly got up as it still had energy to fight.

"Whismur, get it with another Uproar!"

Whismur again opened its mouth wide and roared as loud as it could. This time, however, Machop was prepared for the hit and covered its head with its hands. As a result, Whismur's attack only did minimal damage.

"Machop, get back in the battle with another Karate Chop!"

Machop flew straight at Whismur and sliced its hand at Brendan's Pokémon. Whismur took the hit hard and fell to the ground. However, it was not out.

"Whismur!" Brendan exclaimed and weighed his options. He held its PokéBall up. "Whismur, come back!" He called his Pokémon back.

"A bold move," Brawly responded. "I wonder what else you have up your sleeve."

"I can't let you take Whismur out that easily," Brendan explained and switched his PokéBalls. "Grovyle, you're up!"

Brendan tossed Grovyle's PokéBall on the battlefield and the Grass-type took the field in front of Machop. It hissed powerfully as it towered over Brawly's Pokémon.

"Grovyle, use Leaf Blade!" Brendan commanded.

Grovyle combined the leaves on its wrists into one solid blade and hacked at Machop. Machop spun and fell on the ground. However, due to its quick reflexes, it was able to keep its head in the game.

"Machop, use a Low Kick-Karate Chop attack combo!"

Machop swung its leg at Grovyle's knees and managed to trip the Pokémon. When Grovyle was down, Machop sliced its hand straight through Grovyle and sent it flying backwards.

"Grovyle, get back up and finish the job with another Leaf Blade!"

Grovyle recoiled from the attack and rushed at Machop as fast as it could. Due to its high agility, it was able to slash its opponent without meeting any sort of resistance. Machop flew backwards and fell to the ground, motionless.

"Machop," Brawly sighed and called his Pokémon back. He pulled out his second PokéBall and held it in the air. With a deep breath, he threw it forward with full force. "Makuhita, this is in your hands now!"

Brawly's second Pokémon flew out of its PokéBall and slammed into the ground loudly. It shouted in the air and shot an intimidating glare at Grovyle. Grovyle hissed aggressively in response.

"Grovyle, don't give in to Makuhita!" Brendan shouted. "Use Leaf Blade!"

"Makuhita, block the attack with Arm Thrust!"

Grovyle formed its leaves into a shining green blade again and slashed Makuhita as hard as it could. However, Makuhita was able to put its powerful arms in the way and prevent Grovyle from doing any serious damage. When Grovyle's attack lost power, Makuhita slapped its hands powerfully at Grovyle.

"Grovyle!" Brendan cried out to his Pokémon. "Try a Quick Attack!"

"Makuhita, use Vital Throw!"

Grovyle recovered from the hit and bolted at Makuhita. Before Grovyle could land a hit, however, Makuhita grabbed Grovyle through the large leaf on its head and sent it flying for the ground.

"Don't let it get to you, Grovyle!" Brendan commanded his Pokémon. "Grovyle, use the most powerful Leaf Blade attack you can use!"

Grovyle charge up its leaves as much as it could and formed a green blade that shone brighter than the others. It flew straight at Makuhita and unleashed all the power it had on Brawly's Fighting-type. The impact from the hit slammed Makuhita to the ground, but it wasn't done just yet.

"Makuhita, finish this dude's Grovyle off with a Vital Throw!"

Makuhita hopped over to Grovyle and grabbed Brendan's Pokémon once more through the leaf protruding from its head. It swung it in the air a few times and sent it flying towards the wall. Grovyle hit the wall with full force and fell to the ground, unable to continue battling.

"Grovyle, no!" Brendan cried out to his Pokémon and returned it to its PokéBall. He pulled out Whismur's PokéBall from his belt again and sent it flying to the battlefield. "Whismur, it's all up to you!"

Whismur flew out of its PokéBall and appeared in front of Makuhita.

"Whismur, use Uproar!"

Whismur opened its mouth as wide as it could and let out a deafening roar. While Makuhita took the attack better than Machop did, it still did its damage.

"Makuhita, finish this Pokémon with Arm Thrust!" Brawly commanded.

"Whismur, dodge it and use Uproar again!"

Makuhita repeatedly jabbed its arms forward at Whismur. Before it was able to hit it, however, Whismur hopped in the air and landed behind Makuhita. Whismur opened its mouth with and let out another powerful roar. This time, however, it was able to send Makuhita flying, knocking it out cold.

"Damn it!" Brawly growled and held its PokéBall in the air. "Come back, Makuhita..."

"Yes!" Brendan cheered and ran on the field to hug his Whismur. "We did it!"

**GRANITE CAVE**

After getting directions from the locals who saw a man named Steven earlier, May made her way to the Granite Cave. Despite warnings from the locals on how dark the cave would be, May still figured that she would give it a shot. Without Brendan with her, however, she started to feel scared.

There was almost no sign of life in the cave. May ran into the occasional Zubat and Geodude, but apart from them, May was completely by herself. Starting to feel scared, she pulled out Torchic's PokéBall from her pouch.

"Torchic, come on out!"

Torchic appeared from its PokéBall in a brilliant flash of light and appeared by May's side. May bent over to the ground in order to pick it up and put it in her hands. Torchic chirped playfully as she carried it through the cave.

"Torchic, why did I think coming here by myself would be a good idea?" She asked her Pokémon. Torchic chirped playfully in response.

May was stopped dead in her tracks as she heard metal clanging on the floor. In fear of what it might be, she froze in place to prevent the thing - whatever it was - from finding her. Even Torchic stopped its chirping.

"What... what was that?" May asked herself fearfully.

The metal clanging approached closer and closer to her. Due to the darkness in the cave, she wasn't able to see what it was. She shivered as she continued to stand in place, fearful that something would happen to her precious Torchic. Eventually, the sound was right behind her.

"Please go away whatever you are!" May shouted at the top of her lungs. "Don't hurt my Pokémon!"

"Grovyle!"

"Makuhita!"

The two Pokémon were sent out around May. When she turned around, she could see Brendan and Brawly standing behind her.

"May, stand back!" Brendan warned her. "There's a powerful Pokémon wandering around somewhere here."

"We thought you'd be here, dude!" Brawly shouted to her.

"I'm a girl..." May grumbled and cowered behind Brendan.

Brendan held up a finger to silence the two as he picked up the sound of the walking Pokémon. Grovyle and Makuhita stood defensively and waited for the Pokémon's attack. All of a sudden, a powerful iron reptilian Pokémon emerged from the shadows and pounced on Makuhita.

"What is that thing?" Brendan asked and pulled his PokéDex out in a rush.

"_Lairon, the Iron Armor Pokémon,_" his PokéDex started. "_Lairon feeds on iron contained in rocks and water. It makes its nest on mountains where iron ore is buried. As a result, the Pokémon often clashes with humans mining the iron ore._"

"Lairon, huh?" Brendan asked. "Grovyle, use Leaf Blade!"

"Makuhita, use Arm Thrust!"

"Torchic, use Ember!"

The three Pokémon used their attacks on the wild Lairon to no avail. The Pokémon's armor was far too rigid to take attacks easily. It look at the three trainers angrily and roared loudly.

"Nothing's working!" Brendan exclaimed.

"Not even a super-effective Fighting-type attack, man!" Brawly agreed.

"On three, we all use our attacks again, this time in perfect sync," Brendan instructed the two. "Three, two, one..."

"Arm Thrust!"

"Ember!"

"Leaf Blade!"

The trio of Pokémon simultaneously landed their hits on Lairon and they could see that the Steel and Rock hybrid was feeling the pain. It growled angrily under its breath as its head started to glow a bright silver.

"It's about to use Iron Head, dudes!" Brawly warned the two. "That attack does crazy damage, man!"

Lairon charged its head as much as it could and charged wildly at Grovyle. Brawly, using his instincts as a Pokémon trainer in order to help Brendan and Grovyle out, pulled out an empty PokéBall and threw it at Lairon. The PokéBall fell to the ground, shook a bit, but then burst open.

"Shit, man..." Brawly cursed under his breath.

Lairon roared loudly and charged its head again. It ran straight for Makuhita, this time, and sent the Pokémon flying. It was May's turn to pull out an empty PokéBall as she did so and threw it at Lairon. Like it did to Brawly's PokéBall, however, Lairon was able to easily escape May's PokéBall. After it escaped, all three trainers could see the fierce anger in its eyes.

"Not again!" May complained and stomped the ground in frustration. "How are we ever going to defeat this thing?"

"It's my turn," Brendan said and stuck his arm forward. "Grovyle, use Leaf Blade!"

Grovyle charged its leaves and formed them into a glowing green blade. When the blades were fully charged, Grovyle spun and slashed Lairon as many times as it could. Even though Lairon's shell was highly protective of physical attacks, Brendan could see that there was damage done. Brendan pulled out an empty PokéBall from his backpack and threw it at Lairon. The ball hit the ground, shook, and clicked loudly.

"Phew," Brendan sighed and picked up the PokéBall. "I'm glad that's over. Return, Grovyle."

"Come back, Makuhita," Brawly said and called his Pokémon back, as well.

"Thanks for saving me," May thanked the two and picked up her Torchic. "How did you even know I was here? And who's this blue-haired guy?"

"That would be Brawly, the Dewford Gym Leader," Brendan introduced May to him. "After I got my badge from him, I asked him if he knew of anyone named Steven. It turns out that they're friends."

"Yeah, he told me he wanted to come down here to inspect some ancient mural or something," Brawly informed the two. "Sometimes, I don't know where the dude's fascination lies in stones. When my bro Brendan over here told me you came looking for him alone, I knew we had to get here as soon as possible. This cave is too dangerous to explore by yourself."

"Yeah, it's a lesson I learned now," May shrugged and scratched the back of her head. "Thanks again for saving me."

"It's no problem," Brendan shrugged. "Anything for a friend. And besides, I got to capture a new Pokémon because of that."

"Anyways, I've gotta leave you two for now," Brawly told them. "I need to get back to the gym and finish a few things off. I'll catch you two dudes later."

"Once again, I'm a _girl_..." May mumbled under her breath.

Brawly turned around and left the group to exit the cave. At the same time, Brendan, May, and Torchic headed deeper into the cave. With her friend with her, May felt much more confident in exploring the cave.


	12. The Mural of Granite Cave

**GRANITE CAVE**

Brendan and May kept walking through the dark passageways of the Granite Cave in hopes that they would run into Steven at some point. They knew that he was in the cave, but they didn't know what part of the cave he was in. Due to the cave's large tunnel system, they figured it would take them a while before they ended up finding him.

"Man, why is this guy so hard to find?" Brendan asked. "And why are we even doing this for Mr. Stone?"

"Hey, he gave us free PokéNav's, this is the least we can do for him," May reminded him. "And besides, networking is always a good thing for a Pokémon trainer to do. You never know who will be of importance somewhere in life. Someone as large and respected in the Hoenn Region as Mr. Stone can definitely help us out in the long run."**  
><strong>

"I guess you're right," Brendan shrugged. "I just wish he had a better hobby. One that didn't take us risking our lives in this stupid cave."

"Hey, Torchic seems to be having fun," May said and then looked to the Pokémon in her arms. To her disappointment, Torchic was fast asleep.

"Torchic is sleeping..." Brendan chuckled.

Suddenly, something whirred past May's head. She cowered on the floor as Brendan looked around for the source of the wind. In the distance, Brendan could see a Zubat flapping its wings trying to fly around.

"It's just a Zubat," Brendan reassured her. "Calm down there."

"It could have been anything, though," May defended herself and got back up. "I just don't want to run into any more scary Pokémon."

"Relax, if anything happens we have Lairon and Grovyle to resort to. And your Corphish is pretty powerful, too."

"I guess that sounds better..."

The two of them continued their hike through the cave until they heard murmuring. They slowly crept over to the source of the noise to see a group of miners sitting down in front of a narrow passageway.

"What's going on here?" Brendan asked.

"There's some guy named Steven down the end of this passageway," one of the miners explained. "He asked if we could stop mining for a bit so he could check out the ancient mural up ahead."

"He's been gone for a while, though," another miner added in. "I heard that man _really _loves his rocks, so he's probably just having the time of his life."

"Do you mine if go in?" May asked. "We have to deliver a letter to him."

"I don't see why not," a miner shrugged. "Just don't destroy anything and you'll be all good."

"Thank you," Brendan and May nodded in unison and headed down the narrow passageway.

The passageway was dark and tiny, but it was traversable. As they went deeper and deeper into the small tunnel, they could see that it widened until eventually they were in a large chamber with a tall set of stairs at the end. The walls of the chamber held torches which kept it lit. On top of the platform of the stairs was a tall man with steel blue hair.

"I'm guessing that's Steven," Brendan mumbled and began to climb the stairs with May.

As they ascended up the stone staircase, they could see that the man was examining a large carving on the wall. The drawing style seemed to be from people of ancient times.

"Um, excuse me?" Brendan asked and tapped the man on his shoulder. With a startled jolt, he turned around to face them. "Are you Steven?"

"You scared me!" Steven exclaimed and looked directly at Brendan's eyes. "Yes, I am Steven."

"We have a letter we're supposed to deliver to you from your father," May said and handed Steven the envelope from her pouch.

"Thank you very much," Steven nodded and took the letter from May's hands. "How did you two manage to make it this far in the cave? It's awfully dark."

"It was tough and we ran into a powerful Lairon, but we managed to trust in our Pokémon," Brendan shrugged.

"Even little Torchic helped out, right?" May asked and chuckled at her Fire-type Pokémon chirping in her arms.

"You managed to run into a Lairon in this cave?" Steven asked. "That's odd, I never would have figured an Aron to evolve here..."

"It was powerful, but Brendan managed to capture it," May explained. "Oh, and my name is May, by the way."

"Well, it's nice to meet you two," Steven nodded and looked to Brendan. Oh, so are you the Brendan I have heard about?"

"Umm, I guess?" Brendan shrugged.

"You must have been the trainer who defeated Roxanne previously."

"Yeah, how do you know that?" Brendan asked with one eye squinted.

"I happen to know a few gym leaders quite well," Steven explained. "But never mind that, you two show some great potential. Just to make it this deep in this cave as a pair of new trainers is something quite incredible. I picture the two of you making it far someday."

"Anyways, what's the painting up there?" May asked and pointed to the ancient picture of two large Pokémon fighting.

Steven sighed and looked up at the mural again. He squinted his eyes and tried to see if he could find any hidden meaning. He shook his head in deep frustration.

"All I am seeing in this is a mural of two legendary Pokémon fighting," Steven said quietly. "The ancient people of Hoenn must have thrown in some hidden message here, but I cannot seem to find it."

"Hidden meaning?" May asked. "What makes you think it isn't just some old painting from thousands of years ago?"

"You see, the humans depicted in this mural are holding up two Mega Stones," Steven explained.

"Mega Stones?"

"They are stones capable of allowing Pokémon to reach a new level of power called Mega Evolution," Steven told them. "As of now, we know very little about it other than the fact that the required items are necessary in addition to a Pokémon's bond with its trainer."

"So these two Pokémon had trainers?" Brendan asked. "How do people even control those things?"

"That is where the hidden meaning comes into play," Steven sighed. "These Pokémon were far too powerful in their primitive states to have trainers commanding them. Their Mega Stones, the Red and Blue Orbs, have been kept in Mt. Pyre near Lilycove City for safekeeping. However, without growing bonds, it puzzles me to know how they could have reached Mega Evolution. Something else must have come into play..."

"Maybe they didn't Mega Evolve?" Brendan suggested. "Maybe it was something similar that paved way for Mega Evolution?"

"You see, I have been weighing my options on any possibility," Steven mumbled. "Right now that seems like the most possible explanation. We still don't know the exact origins of Mega Evolution, so these super ancient Pokémon could have certain ties to its roots."

"What exactly did these Pokémon do and why are they so important right now?" May asked.

"You ask some good questions, May," Steven complimented her. "The land creature is called Groudon and has been estimated to be a Ground-type. It created the continents and took residence in the ground of the Hoenn Region after its work was completed. The water creature is called Kyogre and has been estimated to be a Water-type. It created the seas and sleeps somewhere in a cave under the Hoenn trenches. These two Pokémon clashed in order to control the balance of the Earth. This proved to be a catastrophic war for those in Hoenn."

"Why is this still significant? Aren't these ancient Pokémon hidden away?"

"Team Magma and Team Aqua intend to revive them," Steven explained. "I'm sure you are familiar with the two of them."

"Team Aqua, yes," Brendan nodded. "They stole the Devon Goods, but we've never heard of Team Magma."

"Well, they want to expand Hoenn's land and seas by reviving these Pokémon. Additionally, since they are working towards different goals, it is essentially written in stone that the conflict between these two Pokémon will happen once again."

"Is there any way we can stop this?" May asked. "I like the Hoenn Region the way it is."

"As do I, May," Steven agreed. "There _is _a way, though. Legend says that there was a third super ancient Pokémon, one that protected and created the skies. This Pokémon has not been in slumber and has been waiting for the day that these two fight again, only to quell it. Rumor is that it hides in the air."

"Do we know where it is right now?"

"Unfortunately, we do not," Steven sighed. "The last known sighting of this Pokémon was approximately two years ago. After that, it's almost as if its trace was completely vanished from existence."

"Could somebody have caught it?"

"While that it is a good thought, it is practically implausible. Such a powerful Pokémon would not handle the modern effects of a PokéBall so well. It is almost immune to capture."

"Well, that sucks," Brendan complained.

"I guess that's it, then," May told Steven. "We're going to have to leave soon if we want to get to the next city."

"I'd suggest going to Slateport, then," Steven suggested. "It's just across the sea and I'm sure you'd both like to meet Captain Stern."

"Wait!" Brendan exclaimed. "Before we leave, I'd like to have a battle with you."

"With me?" Steven asked, shocked. "Brendan, you just started training Pokémon."

"I know, but I'm sure you're a powerful trainer," Brendan explained. "It can't hurt for me to challenge you."

"I don't think that's a good idea..."

"Oh, come on, I'm up for the challenge," Brendan stated confidently. "I can't lose!"

"If it's what you wish, then I cannot decline," Steven said and stood at one end of the platform.

"Let's get this through," Brendan said and stood on the other side of the platform. He pulled a PokéBall out from his belt and tossed it forward. "Lairon, it's your time to shine! Show Steven the awesome power you have!"

Lairon flew out of its PokéBall in a brilliant glow and fell to the ground with a metallic thud. It growled powerfully once before waiting for Steven to send out his Pokémon.

"Regirock, this battle is yours!" Steven exclaimed and sent the legendary golem Pokémon out of his PokéBall.

Regirock fell to the ground from its PokéBall in a loud thud. It made beeping noises and flashed its braille eyes in order to intimidate its opponent.

"What is that thing?" Brendan asked and pulled out his PokéDex.

"_Regirock, the legendary Rock Peak Pokémon,_" his PokéDex started. "_Regirock was sealed away by people long ago. If this Pokémon's body is damaged in battle, it is said to seek out suitable rocks on its own to repair itself._"

"L-l-legendary Pokémon?" Brendan stuttered in shock. "You have a legendary Pokémon!?"

"I told you this battle wasn't a good idea," Steven shrugged. "Regirock, use Superpower!"

"Lairon, dodge it and use Iron Head!"

Regirock charged its fist up in a powerful light blue glow and charged at Lairon. Lairon completely ignored Brendan's commands and sighed. Regirock slammed its fist into Lairon's head and knocked the Pokémon back.

"Lairon!" Brendan exclaimed. "Why didn't you listen to my commands?"

"Maybe it doesn't find you to be a worthy trainer," Steven explained.

"Bullshit!" Brendan shouted angrily. "I'm a worthy trainer! Lairon, listen to me and use _Iron Head_!"

"Regirock, end this battle with one more Superpower!"

Lairon yawned loudly and slowly closed its eyes. Regirock beeped and let its braille letters blow a bright orange as its fist charged another Superpower attack. Regirock slugged the powerful double super effective hit right at Lairon's head and knocked the Pokémon out.

"Lairon!" Brendan exclaimed and held its PokéBall up. "Come back..."

"He... he wiped the floor with you," May commented from the sideline.

Brendan fell to his knees in defeat. Despite only starting off as a trainer, he had not faced the harsh reality of a loss yet. Additionally, his most powerful Pokémon had no intent on listening to his commands. He was _worthless_.

"Regirock, come back," Steven sighed and called his legendary Rock-type Pokémon back. He walked over to Brendan. "I warned you about battling me."

"Why didn't Lairon listen to me?" Brendan asked while looking at the ground, never even attempting to get up.

"Sometimes powerful Pokémon do not feel that their trainer is worthy for them," Steven explained and put his hand on the young trainer's shoulder.

"How do I over come that?" Brendan asked and stood up. "I thought I was good enough for it."

"The only way to make a Pokémon compassionate towards you is to train hard enough," Steven told him. "The more you bond with your Pokémon, the more trust it will have for you."

"Thanks, I guess..." Brendan sighed. "It was a good battle."

"No, thank yourself," Steven nodded. "By choosing Lairon, you took your first step in earning its trust."

"I... I did?"

"Yes, you did," Steven smiled and shot Brendan a thumbs up. "Anyways, I should be taking my leave. Shouldn't you two head to Slateport soon?"

"Yeah, that's what we were _going _to do until Brendan here got distracted," May groaned.

"Come with me, I will take you there," Steven said and led the two down the stairs.

As they began to leave the cave, one thing kept lingering in Brendan's mind. No matter what he said, Lairon wouldn't listen to him. _He was worthless_.


	13. Team Magma's Ambush

**DEWFORD TOWN**

Steven led Brendan and May out of Granite Cave and over to the dock where Mr. Briney's boat was parked. Since the two had not visited Slateport City before, Steven offered to be their personal guides for the time being. As new trainers, they thought that traveling around with a powerful trainer would be nothing but beneficial tot heir learning. Brendan especially felt like he had a lot to learn from Steven after his embarrassing loss.

"Well, there's Mr. Briney's ship," Brendan told Steven and pointed to the old sailor sleeping on his boat's deck. The sky was dark so it was only natural that Mr. Briney had taken a nap.

"I've heard many legends of the man," Steven commented. "However, I have never actually had the fortune to meet him."

"Mr. Briney!" May called out to the sailor and stood across from his boat on the dock. Mr. Briney instantly propped up from his sleep and went to unlock the boat's side door.

"Have you two young 'uns delivered the letter yet?" He asked and looked to Steven. "Oh, who's this?"

"I am Steven, it is a pleasure to meet you," Steven shook his hand as he entered the boat. "You must be the famed Mr. Briney."

"Oh, it's nothing lad," Mr. Briney chuckled and returned the handshake. "I take it you're Mr. Stone's son?"

"Yes, sir," Steven nodded.

"Well then, where would the three of you like to head to now?" Mr. Briney asked and took command of the boat's controls.

"Slateport City!" Brendan answered with a confident smile. "It's the next city in the Hoenn Region where I can train my Pokémon and become the very best!"

"Then Slateport it is!" Mr. Briney announced.

After a few minutes of toggling switches, the boat slowly left the dock. As Mr. Briney got more into the open water, the boat finally picked up speed. With full throttle, the four of them were headed to Slateport.

**ROUTE 108**

Due to Slateport's location across the Hoenn ocean, it would take a while before the boat would be able to reach the city. As a result, May, Brendan, and Steven all managed to fall asleep on long chairs kept on the boat's deck. Mr. Briney, on the other hand, was wide awake and had his eyes glued to the sea.

Despite being retired, Mr. Briney still enjoyed sailing. He was one of the few people who made his passion his career as well. If there was anything that he knew more than anybody in the Hoenn Region, it was the waterways and what lurked beneath the waves. He knew that sometimes powerful monster Pokémon such as Gyarados and Tentacruel made their homes in the Hoenn seas and would attack without any warning or reason.

However, it was in the air that Mr. Briney would find his threat. Three Team Magma members tailed the ship on their Crobat. They had spotted Steven leaving the Granite Cave with two young trainers as part of their mission and thought the sea would be the perfect place to ambush him. By using their speedy Flying-type Pokémon, they could catch up to him in no time and give him no room for escape in the open ocean.

"Now!" The semi-Admin commanded and led the other three Grunts to the ship's deck. They landed abruptly with loud thuds and woke all of the trainers up.

"What's going on!?" May asked and hopped up from her chair.

"Get off my boat!" Mr. Briney shouted without leaving the controls. Since he had no time to park his boat in the deep seas, he could only continue driving.

"It's Team Magma!" Steven exclaimed when he realized they were being ambushed. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"We found you Steven Stone!" The semi-Admin exclaimed. "We're going to take you to our boss and get that bounty he had on your head!"

"Never!" Steven growled.

"Then we're going to have to get to you the hard way!" The semi-Admin shouted.

All three of the Team Magma members called their Crobat back into their PokéBalls and pulled out different ones. At the same time, each of them threw their PokéBalls forward with a battle cry.

"Magmar!"

"Grimer!"

"Solrock!"

All three of the Magma members sent out their Pokémon, with the Solrock being the semi-Admin's Pokémon.

"Brendan, May, help me out!" Steven told the two teenagers who quickly rushed to his side.

"Solrock is at least part Rock-type, right?" Brendan asked. "If so, then I'm sure my Grovyle can take it!"

"Nincada is part Ground-type, so I'll take on Grimer!" May declared.

"That leaves me to take care of this Magmar," Steven nodded.

At the same time, the three trainers sent out their Pokémon. Grovyle burst free from Brendan's PokéBall, Nincada burst free from May's PokéBall, and an Archeops burst free from Steven's PokéBall.

"What is that thing?" Brendan asked and observed Steven's Archeops.

"It's an ancient Pokémon from the faraway Unova Region," Steven answered. "I found its fossil while excavating for rocks there."

"A Pokémon battle on my own ship..." Mr. Briney commented and watched the three-on-three fight. "At least I've got something to watch while sailing."

"Solrock, use Confusion!"

"Grovyle, run through its attack and hit it with a Leaf Blade!"

Solrock charged its body as it glowed in a powerful purple light. When its eyes reached the same glow, it emitted a powerful wave of energy at Grovyle. Grovyle, following Brendan's commands, used its speed to run straight through the attack as it slashed at Solrock with its Leaf Blade attack. The super effective hit launched the levitating Pokémon back.

"Nincada, let's see if you can use Sand-Attack!" May commanded her Bug Pokémon.

At May's command, Nincada spat a flurry of sand at Grimer's eyes before its trainer was able to give it commands. It used its sludgy hands to attempt to scratch the sand out of its eyes, but its fingers were too blunt for its efforts to be effective.

"Great, now use Leech Life!"

Nincada turned its head back at May and nodded. It hopped in the air and bit onto Grimer's body.

"No, Grimer throw it off and use Sludge!"

"Don't let it to that, Nincada!" May exclaimed. "Bite down harder!"

Grimer flailed its arms around and finally let Nincada loose off of itself. It successfully wiped the sand off of its eyes and hurled a blob of sludge at the Bug Pokémon. Under May's commands, it slashed the blog of sludge out of the way and latched itself onto the Sludge Pokémon yet again. This time, however, it made sure that its Leech Life attack hurt twice as bad.

"Archeops, use Smack Down!" Steven commanded his formerly extinct Pokémon.

"Magmar, don't let it get to you and burn it down with Flamethrower!"

Archeops formed a small ball of yellow energy from its mouth and fired it at Magmar. However, Magmar was able to burn it out of the way with a Flamethrower. Unfortunately for the Grunt, the Flamethrower attack fizzled out after being used as a self-defense mechanism.

"Archeops, use your quick speed to hit it with another Smack Down before it can charge another attack!"

"No, protect yourself with another Flamethrower!"

Archeops again fromed the yellow ball of Rock powered energy in its mouth and shot it directly at Magmar. Despite its success at preventing the attack last time, Magmar was not able to charge up another Flamethrower in time. Archeops's Smack Down hit Magmar directly in the center and flung it right on the ground.

"Grimer, use Sludge!" The Grunt that was battling May commanded.

"Nincada, stop the attack and use Sand-Attack!"

Grimer flung a ball of Sludge at Nincada at the same time that Nincada spat a flurry of sand out of its mouth. However, Grimer's Sludge attack was heavier and had move volume and easily trumped Nincada's Sand-Attack as it hit May's Pokémon directly. Due to Nincada's weak state, the one hit was enough to knock it out.

"No!" May exclaimed and called her Pokémon back to its PokéBall.

"Grovyle, use a spinning Leaf Blade combo!" Brendan commanded his Pokémon. He figured that if one attack wouldn't suffice, a combo of attacks would.

Before the semi-Admin could give his Solrock a command, Grovyle spun itself and slashed its leaves at it. As a result, Solrock was spun in circles with the intensity of Grovyle's attack.

"Good, Grovyle," Brendan pumped his fist. "Now do it again!"

"No, use Confusion!" The semi-Admin commanded his Pokémon.

Once again, however, Grovyle proved to be the faster Pokémon. As Solrock charged its attack, Grovyle used its super effective spinning Leaf Blade combo attack to severely damage it. Due to the high amount of super effective attacks used on it, Solrock succumbed to its damages and was knocked out.

"Solrock, no!" The semi-Admin cried out and called his Pokémon back.

"That's how we do it!" Brendan cheered and ran to his Pokémon to give it a high five. Grovyle hissed happyily and smothered its trainer with love.

"Archeops, finish the job with one more Smack Down!" Steven commanded.

Archeops charged the same ball of energy and shot it at Magmar. Due to Magmar's slow recovery speed, Archeops's attack was able to hit it dead in the center again. This time, due to Steven's intense training of the Pokémon, it was able to knock it out effortlessly.

"Magmar!" The Grunt growled and called his Pokémon back.

This left just Grimer on the battlefield to have to take on both Grovyle and Archeops.

"Do you wanna just give up now?" Steven asked.

"Never!" The remaining Grunt shouted. "Grimer, use Sludge!"

"Archeops, use Acrobatics!"

"Grovyle, use Pound afterwards!"

Archeops flew directly at Grimer and slashed it repeatedly using its high agility. When Grovyle found an opening in Archeops's attack, it went in and slammed down hard using its tail leaves. The barrage of attacks was enough to knock the weak Poison-type Pokémon out easily.

"Grimer!" The Grunt shouted and called his Pokémon back. He fell to his knees and growled.

"You may have defeated us this one time, Steven Stone, but we will not let you get the best of us!" The semi-Admin warned the three. "And Great Leader Maxie will be notified of these two new pests by your side, mark my words!"

"Pests!" May exclaimed defensively. "Who are you calling pests?"

"Let's get out of here," the semi-Admin instructed his subordinates as they all sent out their Crobat and flew out on them.

When the battle ended, all three of the trainers sighed loudly. Brendan and Steven went in to congratulate their Pokémon, but they decided they would be better off with their Pokémon traveling outside of their PokéBalls for the rest of the boat ride.

"My, that was an exciting battle," Mr. Briney commented when everything settled down. "It's been a while since I've seen a three-on-three triple battle."

"Why did Team Magma come for you?" May asked Steven.

"I guess they know that I've been doing research on these legendary Pokémon and they want to know everything I know," Steven shrugged. "They've been on my pursuit for a while now after I refused to give them information."

"That's shitty of them," Brendan said. "But you can clearly wipe the floor with them."

"I can wipe the floor if it's a few of them," Steven answered. "But we still don't know how big the organization really is. Maxie can just one day decide that he wants to let the entire army out on me and then I'll be screwed."

"Who's Maxie?" May asked.

"He's the leader of Team Magma," Steven informed them. "It's his dream that the Hoenn Region's land can be expanded."

"Isn't that selfish to all of the Water Pokémon?"

"At this point, I don't think he cares. All he sees is his vision and he'll stop at nothing to achieve his idea of a 'perfect world'."

"That's crazy..." Brendan mumbled before taking a seat on a chair next to his Grovyle. "Anyways, I'm going to sleep, wake me up when we're in Slateport."

Steven and May nodded and followed suit. If they wanted to last a day in the bustling city of Slateport, they would have to be rested up. Despite the attack, it was not the right time to be thinking of Team Magma's next move. Instead, they decided that a good rest was exactly what they needed.

* * *

><p><em>Hey, just a quick author's note! I've noticed that this story has quite a lot of followersfavoriters. If you've been enjoying (or hating) the story so far, please leave a review and tell me what I'm doing wrong or right! It really helps me get a better understanding of how I should write my story going on._

_Thanks for reading and following this far into the story! I'm glad it's been interesting (I hope, lol) to you!_


	14. Maxie's Documents

**MAGMA HIDEOUT, MT. CHIMNEY DEPTHS**

Ray and Zinnia crawled through the narrow tunnels of Mt. Chimney trying to reach Team Magma's hideout. The hot volcano churned magma in its depths and generated a lot of steam and heat. As a result, the two of them were sweating profusely.

They thought it would be best for them to spy on Team Magma for a bit to see what they were up to. If Ray's suspicions were right about Maxie and Archie wanting the orbs, then it would take extensive planning and spying. Since Zinnia had already spied on both teams at one point, she was able to lead Ray where he wanted to go.

"Do you know how far fetched this idea sounds?" Zinnia asked as they continued to crawl through the hot, narrow tunnels.

"It's better to be prepared than to be caught off guard," Ray answered as he followed closely behind her. "If I'm right and we aren't able to counter this, then we're fucked."

"Well, if it means anything, I trust you," Zinnia admitted.

"Thank you," Ray nodded.

The two of them continued crawling through the tunnels until Zinnia could eventually see a faint light. She crawled faster and faster until she was close enough to the light to notice that it came through a hole. She carefully peered through the hole and could see that they were in the Magma Hideout.

"Here we are," she informed him.

"Do we jump or something?" Ray asked curiously. Since he was stuck behind Zinnia, he didn't have a clear view of the hole.

"Yeah, it's a pretty steep jump, but we have no choice."

"Let's do it."

The pair jumped from the hole and into the hideout. It was simply just another part of the tunnels that was wide open and lit up by powerful light-bulbs hanging from the ceiling. There were massive weapons and vehicles scattered throughout the hideout that looked like they were designed for digging. Streams and pools of lava flowed in between and formed walkways in the stone.

"What have these guys been doing down here?" Ray asked.

"They're really up to no good, aren't they?" Zinnia chuckled lightly. "Too bad they can't see the wrong in their ways."

The two of them walked through the halls of the Magma hideout. Surprisingly, they did not run into any Grunts on their way. Since Zinnia had visited previously, she knew her way around the hideout quite well.

"Maxie's room is somewhere here," Zinnia informed Ray as they both crept down the halls. "I can't remember which one it is, though..."

"Is it that one?" Ray asked and pointed to a regal looking door to their right side that was plated in gold chrome.

"Yes it is," Zinnia nodded and walked over to the golden door. "Let's go in."

They slowly opened the door, hoping not to startle Maxie and set off any alarms. When they entered the room, they could see Maxie sitting in his chair with his back towards them. He slowly turned his chair to face them.

Maxie's room was massive chamber with a giant screen on each wall. Behind Maxie's desk was a large panel of windows. However, due to the hideout's underground location, the only thing visible from the windows was bright lava.

"So it's you two," Maxie sighed and stood up from his seat. "What brings you here?"

"We're here to tell you that you're making a grave mistake," Ray made a fist. "We know what you want to do and we can't let you do it."

"That's quite unfortunate," Maxie mumbled. "You see, I still intend on carrying out my plans exactly as I see fit."

"You're making a mistake..." Zinnia growled.

"That's your _opinion_," Maxie told her. "I have a powerful vision of the Hoenn region - scratch that - the _whole world _being absolutely nothing but land. The only water we would need can be kept underground in aquifers and what not. This way, we can expand the way that our race is able to live. We will truly become the most dominant of all species."

"You intend to do this to Pokémon?" Ray hissed. "What about them?"

"What about _Pokémon_?" Maxie asked harshly. "Pokémon are nothing but tools for our own benefit. It is us humans that run the world."

"What do you intend to do with the legendary Pokémon?" Zinnia asked.

"And why would I tell you that?"

"Because we're going to find out either way. We know you've documented your plans somewhere."

"Is that a threat?" Maxie asked with a laugh. "I'm not scared of you. I have my documents locked up somewhere here you'll never find."

"Good for you," Ray replied sarcastically and pulled out a PokéBall from his belt. He looked to Zinnia. "I'll take him on, you go look for those documents."

Zinnia nodded and ran out of Maxie's room in search of his documents. Maxie shook his head and picked up a PokéBall from his desk.

"You fools," he said softly. "You think we don't take security precautions well. The minute your friend finds out where we hide anything we need to, we will have Grunts swarming her left, right, and center."

"She's too strong for that."

"That's what I thought you would say," Maxie shook his head and held up his PokéBall. "If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you're going to get. Charizard, I choose you!"

Maxie flung his PokéBall forward and the orange Lizard Pokémon took form in front of him. It roared once before shooting a menacing look at Ray.

"A Charizard? Interesting choice..." Ray observed. "Latios, you know what to do!"

Ray threw his PokéBall forward and sent out his blue Eon Pokémon. It took form in front of Maxie's Charizard and cried out once.

"Charizard, use Fire Blast!" Maxie commanded.

"Latios, use Shadow Ball!" Ray fired back.

Charizard roared and spat a ball of fire out of its mouth. The ball flew at Latios and eventually took the shape of '大' at it got closer. Before it could hit Latios, however, Latios formed a giant ball of dark purple ectoplasm and fired it at Charizard's attack. Latios's Shadow Ball ripped straight through Charizard's Fire Blast and went on to hit it dead in the stomach.

"Score!" Ray cheered and pumped his fist.

Charizard growled and fell to its knees. It shook off the hit and stomped the ground ferociously.

"Charizard, use Fire Blast again!"

"Latios, get it again with another Shadow Ball!"

Charizard fired its second Fire Blast attack at Latios. However, with Latios being a legendary Pokémon, its attack power was more powerful than Charizard's. After charging another Shadow Ball, it fired it straight at Charizard and destroyed its Fire Blast attack. Charizard once again fell to its knees in pain.

"Your Latios is too strong..." Maxie growled.

"Getting stressed out?" Ray taunted his opponent. "Give me your best shot."

"Charizard, use Dragon Claw!"

Charizard stood up again and charged its claws with flames. It flew forward and launched itself at Latios. As it made contact with the Eon Pokémon, it slashed it once with each of its claws. Latios flew back from the super effective hit.

"Latios, get it with a Thunderbolt!"

Latios closed its eyes and tapped into its interior electrical current. After becoming one with its electrical energy, it let loose shock waves of lightning at Charizard. The powerful Electric-type attack left Charizard in a state of shock in the air. When Latios's lightning assault finally ended, Charizard fell to the ground and was unable to battle. Maxie grunted and called it back to its PokéBall.

"You wear down my patience..." Maxie mumbled and put Charizard's PokéBall back on his desk. He picked up another one and tossed it forward. "You took out Charizard, but let's see if Heatran can put you to a test!"

"H-Heatran?" Ray asked softly with wide eyes. "So you managed to catch the legendary Pokémon of the Scorched Slab after all..."

The legendary Lava Dome Pokémon flew out of its PokéBall and took form in front of Maxie. It let out a high-pitched roar and took slow steps towards Latios.

"You're trembling." Maxie observed his opponent with a smirk. "Now allow for me to show you the true power of Fire-types."

Elsewhere in the Magma Hideout, Zinnia was running around from one end to another looking for where Maxie would keep his documents. It would have to be easily accessible by all members, so she figured it wouldn't be too hidden. As she ran through the halls, she noticed a chubby Team Magma Admin which she had spied on earlier take a turn down a corridor. Clearly, he was going somewhere important, so Zinnia thought it would be best if she followed.

He kept on walking down the corridor and Zinnia crept silently behind. He approached a scanner door and scanned his Team Magma ID at the door's key. The door opened upwards and he walked through. Zinnia quickly snuck in behind him before the door had the chance to close up on her. On the other side of the door was a massive stone staircase which led to a large metal vault.

"This must be it..." Zinnia whispered to herself. "They keep a lot of things hidden."

The Magma Admin kept on walking up the stairs until he reached the base of the vault. He scanned his ID and opened the main door of the vault.

"Stop in the name of Hoenn!" Zinnia shouted to him.

"What's going on?" He asked as he turned around to face her.

"You're Tabitha, aren't you?" Zinnia asked.

"Yes, and who are you?" Tabitha asked back.

"That doesn't matter," Zinnia replied and pulled out a PokéBall. "Give me your leader's plans from inside the vault or you'll regret it."

"Oh, do we have a cocky one here?" Tabitha asked and pulled out his PokéBall as well. "I'm giving you ten seconds to leave before I wipe the floor with you."

"If that's what it's going to come down to," Zinnia said and threw her PokéBall forward. "Flygon, I choose you! Use Dragon Pulse!"

"Camerupt, show your true power! Use Flamethrower!"

Camerupt and Flygon appeared from their PokéBalls and took the field in front of their respective trainers. They each let out powerful roars and charged up their attacks. At the same time as each other, they launched their attacks straight ahead. The impact was powerful enough to cause a loud explosion in the middle, but both attacks fizzled out.

"Flygon, get back at it with Sand Tomb!" Zinnia roared and swung her fist.

"Camerupt, use Solar Beam!"

Due to the fact that sunlight did not reach the Magma Hideout, Camerupt had to spend a great deal of time charging its Solar Beam attack. Flygon took advantage of this opportunity and fired a beam of sand out of its mouth at its opponent. The sand collected at Camerupt's legs and trapped it in place.

"You think Camerupt will go down that easily?" Tabitha taunted. "Unleash your true power!"

Camerupt looked to the ceiling and roared loudly. It charged its attack to the max capacity and fired a beam of powerful sunlight at Flygon. The attack exploded on impact with the Dragon-type Pokémon.

"Flygon!" Zinnia cried out. "No!"

When the smoke from the explosion cleared, Flygon lay on the ground. With slow movements, it was able to get itself back up in the air.

"That's how we do it, Flygon!" Zinnia cheered as her Pokémon recovered from the attack.

Over in Maxie's chamber, the two legendary Pokémon were evenly matched in a stalemate. Heatran's high defense power was a good match-up for Latios's stealthy attacking strategy.

"Heatran, use Protect to cover yourself and then Magma Storm!" Maxie commanded.

"Latios, break through its shielding with a Thunderbolt!"

Heatran covered itself in a glowing purple shell asLatios unleashed its attack on it. With each strike of lightning, Heatran's forcefield flashed a brilliant white light. The moment Heatran blew a vortex of fire out of its mouth, Latios's Thunderbolt attack broke through the shield. Heatran braved through the attack and shot the storm of fire at Latios. It spun around the Eon Pokémon brilliantly as it was trapped in the tornado.

"Latios!" Ray growled. "Get outta there!"

"Heatran, finish the job with a Metal Claw!"

Heatran leapt into the storm of fire and slashed at Latios viciously. Due to Heatran's natural ability, the fire was able to power up its attacks. When the vortex finally died out, Latios fell to the ground in defeat.

"No, Latios!" Ray shouted and called it back to its PokéBall.

In the vault chamber, Flygon was able to recover from the powerful Solar Beam attack. It leapt into the air and flapped its wings and braved through the pain.

"Flygon, use Sand Tomb and then Faint Attack!" Zinnia commanded her Pokémon.

"Camerupt, don't let her do that and use another Solar Beam!" Tabitha fired back. "And this time, make sure it takes it out!"

Camerupt stood in place again and charged itself with the power of the sun. As it was doing this, Flygon shot another beam of sand at Camerupt's legs. When Camerupt was stuck in place, Flygon disappeared into the shadows and attacked it relentlessly with its Faint Attack. Camerupt fell to the ground in defeat before it was able to charge its own attack.

"Damn it!" Tabitha cursed loudly and called Camerupt back to its PokéBall. "Come back..."

"Now unlock the vault and give me Maxie's secret documents!" Zinnia instructed me. "And nobody gets hurt..."

"Okay! Okay!" Tabitha nodded in fear and raised his hands defensively. He went into the vault and typed in a security code. The vault's door opened up slowly and Tabitha pulled out a thick set of papers. "Take them and get out of here!"

"Good," Zinnia said sternly and snatched the documents out of Tabitha's hands. "I'll make sure that these plans are stopped."

Back in Maxie's room, Ray put Latios's PokéBall back into his belt. It was rare that his Eon Pokémon ever faced defeat, but it was not like it had never happened before. Ray was very used to defeat.

"Since I used two Pokémon, it is only honorable for me to allow you to use another one," Maxie said calmly. "Go ahead, make your choice."

"I'll finish this right now," Ray mumbled and pulled out another PokéBall from his belt. "They always say to fight fire with fire, right? Volcarona, I choose you!"

The Sun Pokémon burst out of its PokéBall in a brilliant display of flames and danced around the battlefield. It spun around in circles and finally took its place in front of its trainer.

"Get at me," Ray told his opponent.

"Very well, then," Maxie sighed. "Heatran, dispose of it quickly with another Magma Storm."

"Oh no you don't! Volcarona, collect the fire with Quiver Dance!"

Heatran fired a vortex of flames out at Volcarona. In response, Volcarona danced around the fire in intricate circles and collected it onto its wings. When Heatran's attack ended, Volcarona was able to collect all of the flames on its wings and fluttered in the air with no damage on it.

"Just like we practiced it," Ray smirked. "Now direct its attack back at it with a combination of Fiery Dance!"

Volcarona spun in hypnotic circles around Heatran. Heatran tried its best not to look at the Pokémon, but Volcarona's dance was too dazzling for it not to watch. When Heatran least expected it, Volcarona blew the flames off of its wings and back at Heatran.

"Don't you know that Heatran's ability prevents fire damage?" Maxie asked, drawn into Volcarona's attack as well.

"That's what Volcarona would make you think," Ray said. "Finish it off!"

The flames surrounded Heatran as the legendary Pokémon felt the heat of its own attack. Despite its ability, the fire did massive damage to it. Heatran grunted loudly and crashed to the ground.

"Heatran!" Maxie shouted and held its PokéBall in the air. In a light flash of red light, it went back to its PokéBall. "But how?"

"Tell me your plans!" Ray shouted and ran over to Maxie with Volcarona closely behind him. He held the leader of Team Magma by his collar when he did not respond. "I said tell me your fucking plans!"

Just then, Zinnia burst through the doors again holding the stack of documents. She ran over to Ray and tugged on his shoulder, urging him to let Maxie go.

"Ray, I got the papers!" Zinnia told him. "Let's get out of here!"

"I won't spare you next time," Ray muttered into Maxie's ear and slowly backed away alongside Zinnia and Volcarona. "The next time we find ourselves in this situation, I promise that you'll be begging for your life."

"Do what you want with those documents," Maxie laughed loudly and sat back on his throne. "My attack on the Hoenn Region has already begun. It won't be long before I summon Lord Groudon and shape the planet into my own image. You just wait and see!"

"Good luck with that," Zinnia growled and pulled Ray out of the room.

Ray, Zinnia, and Volcarona quickly fled the hideout. If Maxie's attack had already begun, then they would have to get to work quickly. It would be only a matter of time before the next Hoenn war would start and they would have to do everything in their power to prevent it.


	15. Captain Stern

**BRENDAN'S DREAMS**

_Brendan looked at his surroundings and found himself on top of a floating island in the night sky. It was a large island with dead trees and brown, dying grass. At the other end of the island was a large stone tablet. Curiously, he walked over to it and saw that there was carved writing at the top._

_"All dreams are but another reality. Never forget..." the tablet read._

_"What does that mean?" Brendan asked himself and read the script again._

_"All ... are but another ... Never forget..."_

_For some reason, some of the words had been removed from the tablet despite Brendan reading it just a second earlier._

_"What the hell?" Brendan squinted his eyes to make sure he was reading it right. "I was sure that there were more words."_

_"All nightmares ... but another reality. Never forget..."_

_"What's going on? That didn't say nightmares earlier."_

_"All nightmares will become another reality. I am coming for you."_

_Brendan blinked his eyes with a confused expression on his face. He had no idea what was going on or where he was, but he did not like it._

_"You worthless trainer!" A deep, booming voice echoed through the shadows. "I am your bane!"_

_"Who are you?" Brendan asked loudly, unsure whether his voice was heard or not._

_"You worthless trainer!" The voice repeated._

_"Show yourself!" Brendan shouted and pulled a PokéBall from his belt. "Grovyle, I choose you!"_

_Brendan tossed his _PokéBall forward and Grovyle appeared in a flash of bright white. When the light settled down, Brendan could see that the __Pokémon released was not actually Grovyle but instead a horrible disfiguration of it.____

____"What the hell?" Brendan asked, terrified. In an instant, the monster deformation of his ____Pokémon flew back into its ____PokéBall and the island shook with a tremor. "What's going on?"____________

____________"You worthless trainer!"____________

____________Brendan looked back at the tablet to find that the words had changed yet again.____________

____________"Nightmares are realities. -D...r...ra..."____________

____________The shadows flashed brightly repeatedly until Brendan blacked out.____________

**ROUTE 109**

The bright morning sun rose from the horizon as a new day began in the Hoenn Region. Mr. Briney's ship managed to reach the beachy dock in Route 109 late at night and everybody on board decided it would be a good idea to get a good night's rest before setting out into the city. After all, they were still extremely tired from their surprise encounter with Team Magma.

Brendan sat up from his seat groggily and scratched his eyes vigorously as the salty sea air filled his nostrils. For some strange reason, he had a terrible nightmare. Remembering the events, he turned quickly to look at Grovyle lying next to him and was breathed a sigh of relief to find that it was not deformed and was instead sleeping peacefully.

"Did you sleep well?" A male's voice asked. Brendan turned around suddenly to see that it was only Steven. "Wow, did I startle you?"

"Sorry, Steven, I just had a terrible nightmare," Brendan sighed.

"A nightmare?" May asked and joined the two. "What was it about?"

"I don't know," Brendan shrugged. "I was just on an island and this voice kept telling me that I was worthless."

"Was there anything else?" Steven asked.

"Well, Grovyle was deformed, but I guess that was just part of the nightmare."

"Argh, I've heard some legends of a Pokémon that causes nightmares," Mr. Briney said and walked over to the trainers. "They say it comes to trainers who believe that they are stronger than they truly are and wreaks havoc on their dreams."

"A Pokémon that causes nightmares?" Brendan asked. "What kind of Pokémon would do something like that?"

"Nobody knows," Mr. Briney shrugged. "For all we know, it might just be another legend of scurvy."

"Has anybody ever seen this Pokémon?" Steven asked. "I am quite intrigued by this."

"I have never met anybody who has seen this Pokémon with their own eyes," Mr. Briney answered. "But I do know of one trainer afflicted that was afflicted by it some time in the past."

"Who was that trainer?" Brendan asked. "I wanna know how to end this crap."

"The lad's name is Aiden," Mr. Briney answered. "But I haven't seen him in years."

"I think I know Aiden," Steven asked. "I presume that you are speaking of the Aiden with wild red hair."

"Argh, that be the lad!" Mr. Briney exclaimed. "You know him?"

"We have been friends for a while," Steven answered and looked to Brendan. "I can talk to him about this if you'd like."

"That would be awesome," Brendan nodded. "I'm not trying to lose sleep while on a journey with my Pokémon."

"I guess Steven can do that while we look for this Captain Stern guy that he told us about," May shrugged.

"That sounds like a good idea," Steven agreed. "I've already seen all there is to see about Slateport. I'll let you guys do the touring while I call him up."

"Thanks, Steven," Brendan smiled lightly.

**SLATEPORT CITY**

After leaving the boat, Brendan and May headed through the commercial beach of Route 109 into the busy streets of Slateport City. As a beachside resort city, there were lots of tourists out and about exploring things. In fact, the entire city seemed to revolve around a beach theme.

Brendan had been following May around as she spend all of her time exploring the bustling bazaars of the city for what had seemed like hours. She was intrigued by the souvenirs that were on sale and wanted to pick up a few things to give to her parents when she went back home. However, her incisiveness was starting to get on Brendan's nerves.

"Don't you think we should be doing more important things?" Brendan asked with a groan. Before he realized it, May had run for another tent. "Are you kidding me? I mean come on!"

"Oh, don't be a spoiled sport," May said and looked at the different PokéDolls that the vendor had on sale. "Oh look, it's a Torchic doll!"

"If you really want it, then buy it and let's get out of here!" Brendan exclaimed.

"Fine, fine," May groaned and rolled her eyes. She picked up the doll, gave her money to the vendor, and put it in her pouch. She looked to Brendan afterwards. "What did you want to do here that was so important, anyways?"

"Don't we have to meet this Captain Stern guy?" Brendan asked. "After all, it was you who said that 'networking' was such an important thing..."

"Don't use my own words against me!" May exclaimed defensively and placed her hands on her hips.

"Can we just get a move on it?" Brendan asked.

"Fine, whatever..."

The two of them navigated the streets of the city aimlessly. Despite Brendan's desire to meet this Captain Stern person, he had no idea where he was going. The title "Captain" in addition to the city being themed on the neighboring sea led Brendan to the conclusion that Captain Stern probably had something to do with ships. As such, he found directions on the Slateport's main directory in the heart of the city to a place called "Stern's Shipyard."

He planned out the blocks and concluded that the building was not a far walk from where they were. After a little bit of navigating again through the city, the two of them could see a large industrial styled building situated next to the sea. Large, rusting boats had lined up the side walls of the building.

"Are you sure this is the place?" May asked as they stood at the building's door.

"I mean, it's called 'Stern's Shipyard', how can it _not_ be the place?" Brendan asked redundantly and opened the door wide. "After you."

"Thank you..." May mumbled and walked into the building.

The building had old ships held up on stands with machines that looked like they were deconstructing them. Additionally, it looked as if some other machines were salvaging boat parts to make new ships. Like its name suggested, it was just a shipyard for dismantling and reconstructing ships.

There was an old looking professor with gray hair and a scraggly beard who seemed to be running the machines as he examined a blueprint. Brendan assumed that he was probably Captain Stern and the pair walked over to him.

"Um, excuse me?" Brendan asked and tapped him on the shoulder. "Are you Captain Stern by any chance?"

"Oh, hello there!" The professor exclaimed and turned around suddenly. "You scared the bejeezus out of me! Unfortunately, I'm not the Captain Stern you were looking for."

"Well, do you know where he is?" May asked. "Brendan over here _insists _that we go see him."

"He's probably at the Oceanic Museum adding a new artifact on the display," the professor answered. "A rare looking pearl washed up on shore the other day and Captain Stern thought it would be good for a new display."

"Do you know where the museum is?" Brendan asked. "We've never really been to Slateport before."

"It's only a few blocks north of here," the professor answered. "It shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Thank you, we'll go find him," Brendan nodded and began to walk out of the building with May.

The two of them left the shipyard and walked in the directions that the professor gave to them. Eventually, they could see a grande building designed in an aquatic blue by the sea. Brendan realized that they had made it and excitedly ran for the door.

"This must be it," Brendan said and held the door open for May. "_After you._"

"Thank you..." May mumbled to herself again.

When they walked inside, they could see that there was an entire army of Team Aqua Grunts peacefully checking out the displays. Confused, Brendan walked over to the front desk and looked at the receptionist curiously.

"What's going on here?" Brendan asked. "Aren't we supposed to be keeping Team Aqua away from here?"

"What's Team Aqua?" The receptionist asked. "And unless you're part of that group, you have to pay an admission fee."

"She has no idea what we're talking about," May whispered to Brendan before looking back at the receptionist. "Yes, we're a part of that group."

"Oh, then you'd better be quick!" The receptionist exclaimed. "You don't want to be late!"

"One more thing," Brendan jumped in. "Is Captain Stern here?"

"Yes, he should be upstairs," the receptionist answered. "He was fixing up a new display."

"Thank you!" May smiled and walked away from the desk.

"How did she _not _know who Team Aqua was?" Brendan asked when they were out of the receptionist's earshot.

"Maybe they haven't done as much damage as we thought," May shrugged. "Anyways, we should go find Captain Stern."

The two found a large staircase at the end of the first floor and climbed it. Once they reached the second floor, they could see a middle aged man with dark brown hair in a lab coat messing around with one of the displays. They figured that he was Captain Stern (for real this time) and walked over to him.

"Um, excuse me?" Brendan asked for the second time and tapped on his shoulder. "Are you Captain Stern?"

"Why, yes I am!" Captain Stern turned around and faced the duo. "What brings the two of you here?"

"Someone we met named Steven told us to come meet you," May answered. "He said we could learn a lot about the ocean from you."

"Ah, anything for the friends of the good son of President Stone, of course. Well, if I do say so myself, I am probably the most educated man when it comes to Hoenn's seas," Professor Stern answered with a light chuckle. "Whether it's undersea Pokémon, tidal weather patterns, or just a general question about the make-up of our seas, I can answer all."

"Actually, we do have an important question now that we're here," Brendan started. "What's Team Aqua doing here?"

"Team Aqua?" Captain Stern asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Yeah, we ran into them before in Rustboro City and they were up to no good by stealing the Devon Goods," Brendan shrugged. "I figured they were up to no good here as well, but they're just peacefully looking at the displays."

"What's Team Aqua?" Captain Stern asked again. "I've never heard of them."

"We really don't know either," May answered. "We know they want to awaken the legendary Pokémon of the seas, but that's about it."

"The legendary Pokémon of the seas?" Captain Stern asked with one eye squinted. "You mean Kyogre?"

"I'm not too sure what it's called," Brendan said. "But if that's the one that caused a big war a long time ago, then yes."

"Are they out of their minds!?" Captain Stern asked loudly. "That's disastrous!"

Just then, they could hear people running up the stairs. In an instant, two Team Aqua Grunts rushed over to the three of them and pulled their PokéBalls out.

"Captain Stern, hand over the submarine's blueprints!" One of the Grunts exclaimed before noticing Brendan and May. "You two! It was you two that meddled in our affairs in Rustboro!"

"We're gonna make sure you stay out of our way this time!" The other Grunt reiterated.

"What are you two going to do about it?" Brendan asked and pulled out a PokéBall.

"Yeah, you guys are nothing but a nuisance to the peace in the Hoenn Region!" May exclaimed and pulled out a PokéBall as well. "And we're gonna make sure you disappear forever!"

"Then let's get right down to it!" The first Grunt exclaimed and threw a PokéBall forward. "Poochyena, get 'em!"

In response, the second Grunt, Brendan, and May all threw their PokéBalls forward.

"Zubat!"

"Whsimur!"

"Corphish!"

All four Pokémon burst free out of their PokéBalls in a flash of bright white light and took their positions on the battlefield in front of their trainers.

"Crap, I didn't bring any Pokémon of my own!" Captain Stern exclaimed and hid behind the teenagers.

"Poochyena, use Bite on Corphish!"

"Zubat, use Leech Life on Whismur!"

"Whismur, use Uproar on Poochyena!"

"Corphish, use Crabhammer on Zubat!"

Poochyena leapt for Corphish but was stopped dead in its tracks when Whismur opened its mouth. It directed a powerful shout at Poochyena before Poochyena could attack Corphish but was then silenced as Zubat bit tightly onto one of its ears. Corphish used this opportunity to slam its pincers at Zubat to free Whismur from its grip.

"Wow, this battle is ugly," May commented. "Corphish, use another Crabhammer on Zubat!"

"Zubat, dodge it and use Wing Attack!"

Corphish charged its pincers and tried to slam one into Zubat. However, Zubat used its aerial advantage to flutter out of the way of the attack. It screeched loudly and flew towards Corphish with glowing wings. Fortunately for Corphish, its other pincer was still charged up and it whacked Zubat before it could use its Wing Attack.

"That's how we do it!" May cheered and pumped her fist. "One more Crabhammer!"

"Whismur, back her up with annother Uproar!" Brendan added in.

"Poochyena, get in the way of the attack!"

Corphish charged its pincers again and launched itself at Zubat. This time, however, Poochyena was there to listen to its trainer's commands and stood in the way of the attack. Instead, Corphish ended up slamming its pincers into Poochyena. Poochyena was thrown out of the way just in time for Whismur to open its mouth wide and roar at the top of its lungs.

"Brendan, you've gotta teach Whismur to tone it down a bit!" May shouted and held her palms to her ears.

"I can't hear you!" Brendan replied with his hands on his ears as well.

As Whismur's attack grew in power, it started to kick up a wind. The wind blew Poochyena and Zubat away and the two Pokémon slammed into the wall with two loud thuds. When Whismur finally quieted down, the two Pokémon slowly slid down the wall and fell to the ground, unable to battle. Everyone in the room took their hands off their ears as they could finally hear again.

"Glad that's over," Brendan sighed and called his Pokémon back. "Good job, Whismur!"

"You too, Corphish!" May smiled and stuck her Pokémon a thumbs up. She called it back, as well.

"Damn it!" The Grunt who owned Poochyena stomped the ground in frustration and called his Pokémon back.

"We'll get you next time!" The other Grunt threatened them and called back his Pokémon as well.

Before the two Grunts got the chance to flee the scene, another man emerged from the staircase. He looked almost like the Grunts except for the fact that he was larger with a blue bandana, a pirate captain's outfit, dark black facial hair, and a golden anchor strapped around his neck. He took slow, loud steps as he approached Brendan, May, and Captain Stern.

"You pathetic fools!" He shouted at the teenagers. "You keep insisting on wiping the floor with my Grunts, eh?"

"And who might you be?" Brendan asked as he stood up bravely to the man. "Your breath smells terrible by the way."

"You dare talk like that to Archie, the leader of the great Team Aqua!?" Archie roared in anger. "I will finish you off!"

"I doubt it," Brendan chuckled. "We'll take you out just like we took your pathetic Grunts out."

"Brendan, take a chill pill," May whispered to her traveling companion. She could sense his overconfidence getting the best of him again.

"May, I know what I'm doing," Brendan whispered back to her before looking at Archie again. "So what is it? Do you accept my challenge or are you gonna run away like a baby?"

"I suggest you shut it," Archie warned him. "Or else you'll regret it. Luckily for you, I have more important things to do."

"So you're gonna run away like a baby?" Brendan asked with a smirk.

"Brendan, shut up!" May tugged on his sleeve.

"If you'd like to call it that, then call it that," Archie said calmly. "But you will regret calling me names the next time you cross Team Aqua's path. Mark my words, fool!"

"Leave!" Brendan exclaimed as the two Grunts started to leave the building behind Archie. "And stay out!"

"Brendan, you really need to think before you say stuff," May told him. "You're gonna get us killed one day."

"Trust me, May, I always back up my shit talk," Brendan reassured her. "And besides, what are they? Water-type masters? I'm sure Grovyle can take them out with no trouble."

"Brendan, please stay level headed..."

"Thank you two for saving me," Captain Stern interrupted before he felt like the scene would get ugly. "Honestly, if you two weren't here, I'm not sure what would have happened."

"It's no problem, Captain Stern," May nodded. "But why did they want your submarine parts?"

"It may be for the underwater cavern we discovered," Captain Stern explained. "If you said they intended on waking up Kyogre, then they must feel like the cave has a connection to it."

"That must be it..." Brendan mumbled.

"Anyways, I should really head back to the shipyard," Stern said. "My crew needs to know of this attack so we can take proper measure to protect our mission!"

"Good luck!" May exclaimed to him as he left and looked to Brendan. "You know, you should _really _stop getting so ahead of yourself. Who knows what Archie is capable of?"

"Whatever, I'm not listening," Brendan blabbered and held his hands to his ears.

"Brendan..."


	16. Like Trainer Like Magikarp

**SLATEPORT CITY**

After shooing Team Aqua away from the Oceanic Museum, Brendan had received a call from Steven with news that Aiden had flown into the city. Since he didn't want to have a string of nightmares like Mr. Briney said he would have, he thought it would be a good idea to see Aiden immediately. Steven organized plans for them to all meet at a small restaurant on the beach.

If Mr. Briney was right about his nightmare being caused by a Pokémon, then Brendan wanted to put a stop to it personally. While he wasn't one for calling a Pokémon evil or trying to stop its natural way of living, this was one that would not fly with him. He was fully confident that his Pokémon would be able to take it down.

Following Steven's directions, Brendan and May managed to make it to the hole-in-the-wall shack called the "Seashore House." They entered the small restaurant to find that there weren't very many customers. In fact, all of the customers seemed to be loitering around rather than buying food. They found Steven sitting down at a table for four across from a male who looked to be about the same age as him with spiked red hair, a blue polo, and khakis. Figuring that was Aiden, the pair walked over to the table and took seats at the two remaining chairs.

"You must be Aiden." Brendan looked to the male and shook his hand. "I'm Brendan, nice to meet you."

"I'm May," May said and shook his hand as well.

"I'm Aiden, nice to meet you two," Aiden nodded and looked to Brendan. "So, Steven tells me that you had a strange nightmare last night."

"Yeah, we're convinced that it was caused by some sort of Pokémon," Brendan answered. "Mr. Briney said that you know exactly what I'm talking about."

"That I do," Aiden said. "When I was about your age, I used to take Pokémon battles very lightly. It seemed less of a competition and more of a chore for me. I was fully convinced that I was the second coming of Alder."

"Sounds a lot like someone _we _know..." May mumbled to herself as she shot a glare at her traveling companion.

"What do you mean?" Brendan asked Aiden, completely ignoring May's side comment. "What does that have to do with me?"

"It may have absolutely nothing to do with you," Aiden shrugged. "But that's not up for me to decide. All you should know is that Darkrai sees a flaw in you and intends on changing it for your own good."

"Darkrai?"

"Darkrai, the Pitch-Black Pokémon," Aiden answered. "It is a legendary Pokémon species that was said to have originated far within the cold of my home region of Sinnoh."

"From the Sinnoh Region?" Brendan asked in slight disbelief. "Why would a legendary Pokémon come all the way from the Sinnoh Region to haunt me?"

"That is something I cannot answer," Aiden said bluntly. "Anyways, describe your dreams to me."

"Well, I was on an island floating in the shadows," Brendan began. "All of the tress and grass were dead and there was a boulder a few feet away from me. There was some writing engraved on that bouder, too."

"What did it say?"

"Well, I don't remember exactly, but something along the lines of nightmares becoming reality," Brendan shrugged. "It was just some real trippy shit, man."

"Definitely Darkrai," Aiden said softly.

"So how do we stop this?" Brendan asked.

"Darkrai will stop when it wants to," Aiden answered. "There's pretty much nothing we can do at the moment but offer comfort. Maybe if one day it decides to appear to you, you can confront it one-on-one. Until then, you will suffer until it wants you to."

"Well then I'll be waiting," Brendan nodded. "If it's a battle it wants, then it's a battle it gets. I'll teach that thing not to mess with me!"

"And that's the attitude I used to have," Aiden chuckled and shook his head. "It's definitely level-headedness that you lack."

"I don't see how being confident in my abilities is a bad thing..."

"It's not being confident that's detrimental," Aiden said. "It's being _over_confident."

"I doubt that."

"Okay, how about we battle it out, then?" Aiden asked and stood up. He walked around and cleared a few tables out of the way to set up a small battlefield. "What do you say, one-on-one?"

"I say you're on," Brendan nodded and stood across from Aiden.

"Hey, you two be careful what you knock over!" The store's owner shouted from the counter. "You break it, you buy it!"

"Pick your Pokémon wisely," Aiden told his opponent and pulled out a PokéBall. "I've already picked mine."

"I have to warn you that Aiden is miles ahead of me in terms of battling abilities," Steven informed Brendan and stood up to watch the battle.

"And you wiped the floor with him, too," May chuckled an stood up, as well.

"That's no problem." Brendan took a deep breath. "'l'll show you that there's no error in my ways."

"Then let's get this show on the road."

Aiden sighed and sent his first PokéBall forward. At the same time, Brendan tensed his mind and threw his first PokéBall forward as well. From Brendan's PokéBall, Lairon appeared and roared as it crashed to the ground. On Aiden's side of the field, however, a hulking purple scorpion-like Pokémon appeared. A few people standing in the restaurant circled around the two to get a look at the battle.

"I wonder what that is..." Brendan mumbled and pulled out his PokéDex.

"_Drapion, the the Ogre Scorpion Pokémon_," his PokéDex started. "_It takes great pride in its strength. Even though it can tear foes apart, it finishes them off with powerful poison._"

"Drapion, eh? Lairon, use Iron Head!"

"Drapion, use Cross Poison!"

Lairon charged its head up and Brendan pumped his fist when it appeared that his Pokémon was listening to him. However, it quickly turned its head back to Brendan and powered down its attack. It yawned loudly as Drapion slashed at it with the pincers on its head. The attack blasted Lairon a few meters back.

"Lairon!" Brendan cried out when the attack's smoke cleared. "Listen to me!"

"It appears you've got a powerful Pokémon," Aiden observed. "It's just too bad that it won't listen. Drapion, hit it with another Cross Poison!"

"Lairon, listen to me and use Iron Head!" Brendan commanded his disobedient Pokémon. "Come on, get your head in this!"

Lairon closed its eyes and took a nap on the battlefield. Drapion, feeling no mercy towards its opponent, threw its pincers soaked in poison straight at the Steel-type Pokémon. The attack was more powerful and punishing this time around. Lairon flew back but did not wake up.

"Lairon, wake up!"

"Brendan, this is practically embarrassing now," Aiden scolded. "Drapion, Giga Impact!"

"Lairon, please protect yourself and use Iron Head! I'm begging you!"

Drapion encased itself in a form of white energy. As the energy circled around it, it launched itself straight at Brendan's Pokémon. There was a large explosion as it made a powerful collision. Both trainers stood protectively as smoke blew everywhere over the battlefield.

When the smoke cleared, Lairon and Drapion stood breathing heavily, unmoved. A brief stand-off ensued where neither Pokémon made a move. Brendan and Aiden remained silent in anticipation of Lairon's next move. However, Lairon was not given the chance to obey its trainers commands as it crashed to the floor, unable to battle.

"How predictable..." May grumbled under her breath.

"No!" Brendan growled and fell to his knees. He painfully slammed his first on the ground three times, one for each hit that Lairon took. He held Lairon's PokéBall up and called it back in a flash of bright red. "Come back, Lairon..."

"You too, Drapion," Aiden sighed and called his Pokémon back.

"That was a quick battle," Steven commented. "Almost as fast as mine."

"So what is it we've seen here, Brendan?" Aiden asked and walked over to the young trainer. He put his hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "You can only go as far as your mind allows you to. There comes a point in your training where you have to take a step back and look at the big picture. The big picture is that you're not as good of a trainer that you act like you are."

"I'm a fantastic trainer." Brendan gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"That battle we just had begs to differ."

"You just faced off against my disobedient Lairon." Brendan stood up and crossed his arms. "There's nothing spectacular about that."

"And you're wondering why Darkrai is after you," Aiden said and shook his head. "This is your downfall."

"But..." Brendan sighed deeply. He took a few seconds to put his mind at ease before opening his mouth again. "So what now?"

"There's no other advice I have for you other than to humble up," Aiden shrugged. "It's going to take a while before you even begin to realize how you can change, but I promise it will come to you."

"I just want to be the very best."

"And I can assure you that with the right amount of training and dedication, you can call yourself that."

Being completely wiped out in a battle would take some getting used to for Brendan. Both times he lost he had been completely taken off guard by his opponent's attacking strategies. Powerful hits after powerful hits just dominated his Pokémon effortlessly. If he wanted to be a better trainer, he would have to take extra steps to get to connect with his Pokémon.

"You're right," Brendan muttered and looked away. "I'm no good. I just happened to get lucky against two powerful gym leaders."

"Let's not say that..."

"Brendan, why don't we take a walk by the beach?" Steven suggested. "Maybe that would take your mind off things."

**ROUTE 109**

The four trainers walked across the sandy shores of the Slateport Beach and looked out into the horizon. The evening sunset lined up perfectly with the waves of water in the distance and cast a powerful solar image on the water. Everything reflected into the clouds and sky to create a powerful pink light in the sky.

With every step Brendan took, with every small wave that came crashing onto the shore, he imagined each command he gave to his Lairon. One after the other, Lairon disobeyed his trainer. At this point, Brendan didn't even know why he hadn't used Grovyle or Whismur. At least they were willing to listen to him!

"I've never been to this part of the Hoenn Region," May commented and let the warm sand slip through her feet.

"Such is the joy is being a Pokémon trainer." Steven breathed in the salty sea air. "The world is more than just your house, and that's a fabulous thing."

"What's that over there?" May asked and pointed to a sparkling fish Pokémon flopping on the sand. The group ran over to the Pokémon to find that it had trouble getting back into the water. "I think it needs help..."

"It looks like a Magikarp," Steven observed before noticing the shine. "But why is this one golden?"

"It may just be some sort of deformation," Aiden said. "But I haven't heard of or seen any Pokémon colored differently in my life..."

"Either way, I've heard Magikarp is utterly useless," May groaned. "Let's just send it back to the water and get it done with. I bet its family just thought it was another Pokémon with its color deformation."

"Useless?" Brendan asked in disbelief. "I thought every Pokémon had a purpose."

"Every Pokémon does have purpose, some just more than others," Aiden answered.

"Well what makes this Magikarp different?" Brendan asked and watched the Pokémon struggle to flop its way back into the sea. "So what if it's colored differently? As long as it puts in effort, it'll go where it wants to."

"That's a good attitude to have," Aiden responded. "Maybe just like you, Magikarp wants to be the best."

"Maybe we're just two peas in a pod, then. Magikarp and I, aiming to be the best of our kind."

"Maybe all Magikarp wants is a trainer, or a friend at least," May shrugged. "Someone to share its struggles with."

"What if that trainer was me?" Brendan asked and pulled out an empty PokéBall. "Maybe I can show it its true potential."

"Brendan, you can't be serious," May chuckled. "You don't intend to catch that thing, do you? Why would you waste your PokéBall on a Magikarp of all Pokémon?"

"Aiden said I'm like this Magikarp. Who knows how far we can come? And besides, nothing bad can come out of helping this little guy out. He's a unique one, just like me."

"I think it's a great idea," Aiden offered his opinion.

"Magikarp can be ferocious if you raise it right," Steven winked at Brendan. "I'll promise you that."

Brendan sighed and tapped the flopping Magikarp with its PokéBall. Before it was sucked into the vortex, he was absolutely sure the Pokémon cracked a tiny smile. Brendan's PokéBall fell to the soft sand and wiggled silently in place. After a few seconds, the PokéBall clicked and Magikarp was officially a member of Brendan's team.

Brendan swore silently on himself that he would take every opportunity to fix his flaws. Being a Pokémon trainer meant having a great amount of responsibility and patience in terms of trianing. With Magikarp, he intended to teach himself diligence as a trainer. He was sure that he would be able to unlock Magikarp's true potential, as Magikarp would be able to unlock his.


	17. Contest Star May

**BRENDAN'S DREAMS**

_Brendan opened his eyes to find that he was in the middle of a dark, misty cave. He slowly got up and felt a light chill in the air nip at his skin. He tried walking around for a bit to see if he could go anywhere, but the cave just seemed like one large, empty chamber._

_"Where am I?" He asked himself and shivered at the cold air. "What's going on?"_

_A whir of darkness flew past him and he turned around rapidly to see if he could identify it. However, the lack of light in the cave made it difficult for Brendan to find anything. He just stood in one spot shivering in cold and fear._

_"Who's there...?" He asked softly. "Please stop whatever you're doing."_

_The light murmuring of voices whispering drilled itself into Brendan's ears. Brendan slowly took steps towards where he felt the source of the voices came from, but they increased in volume regardless of where he went._

_"Get out of my head!" Brendan shouted and clutched his head. "It hurts..."_

_Suddenly, the outline of the cave disappeared from Brendan's eyes. He could see that he was in a vast void of nothingness with a faint light in the distance. Something pulled his body faster and faster into the light until it appeared that he was plummeting out of the sky. He kept falling until he painlessly fell onto a rocky island._

_Despite the dark night sky producing no light, Brendan could see that island seemed to have no detail other than its brown sandstone form. Powerful waves crashed onto the shore and Brendan could feel the cold ocean wind tug at him._

_"What just happened?" Brendan asked himself before checking to see whether the fall damaged him._

_Clouds began to take form in the sky as a light rain began its descent. Eventually, more and more water droplets formed in the sky at the light rain turned into a heavy downpour. Powerful flashes of lightning lit up the night sky and heavy thunder pounded at Brendan's ear drums._

_The ocean began to spiral within itself as a massive whirlpool took form. Lightning struck the center of the whirlpool as a large blue Pokémon leaped up from the water. It glared at Brendan with bright yellow eyes and let out high pitched roar._

_"Holy shit!" Brendan exclaimed and turned around to run in the opposite direction._

_However, his actions were stopped as he noticed the massive red Pokémon standing in his way. Brendan screamed in fear as he looked at the towering Pokémon. It lowered its head to Brendan and roared at him with all of its energy._

_Brendan cowered down to the ground as the red Pokémon leapt into the sky to attack the blue Pokémon. The two legendary Pokémon met in the middle of the air as there was a large explosion and they were both sent flying backwards. The blue Pokémon was thrown into the water and the red Pokémon crashed into the ground as the land swallowed it up._

_An image of the Granite Cave mural flashed in Brendan's head as he realized suddenly that he was witnessing the ancient war of the Hoenn Region. These two Pokémon were fighting to control the water-land balance of the Hoenn Region and were destroying the planet along with it._

_Before anything else could happen, Brendan's vision went black._

**SLATEPORT CITY**

Brendan woke up in a sweat with a racing heart. He instantly propped himself up in his bed and tried to regain his breath. In his terrible nightmare, he was sure he had witnessed the first ancient war in the Hoenn Region.

As his vision slowly came to him, he could see that he was in a small bedroom with all four of his Pokémon sleeping soundly on the floor. Even his unusually golden Magikarp had found a place on the floor to visit dreamland on. To his relief, none of his Pokémon were deformed or even showed signs of suffering through a nightmare.

It was then that he remembered that he and May had decided to stay overnight in a Pokémon Center so Mr. Briney could get back to his house in Petalburg. At the same time, Steven and Aiden had bidded their farewells from the group and went on to do their own things.

He quickly called his sleeping Pokémon back to their PokéBalls and ran to the bathroom to get ready. After a quick few minutes brushing, shaving, showering, and changing, Brendan was ready to start the day. He adjusted his white hat as he looked in the mirror and gave his reflection an approving thumbs-up. Finally, he packed up all of his belongings and tidied up the room so it looked as nice as it did when he checked in.

"That was some crazy nightmare," Brendan mumbled to himself as images of the two super ancient Pokémon flashed in his head. "But... why was Darkrai showing _me _this?"

A loud knocking noise interrupted his train of thought as he noticed that somebody was at his door. He quickly rushed over to the door and opened it to find May standing on the other side already dressed to go and tapping her foot impatiently.

"You were supposed to be up one hour ago," May complained and held up the clock page of her PokéNav for Brendan to see. "It's 10 A.M. now and I'm going to be late to watch the Slateport City Pokémon Contest."

That's when Brendan also remembered that May had told him she wanted to watch the Pokémon Contest at Slateport's own contest hall. In fact, the world famous contest star Lisia and her Altaria, Ali, would be there. How could he possibly have forgotten?

"Sorry..." Brendan groaned. "I just had another terrible nightmare."

"It's okay," May sighed. "Care to talk about it?"

"Well, it pretty much had to do with the Hoenn war that Steven told us about earlier," Brendan explained and began to walk down the stairs with his traveling companion. "Do you remember how they fought for control of the region?"

"That's what your nightmare was about?" May asked as the two approached the front desk on the first floor. "Hold on a sec, I'll check us both out."

Brendan sat on a nearby bench as May handed the keys to Nurse Joy at the front desk. After exchanging a few words, May headed back over to him.

"Ready to go?" He asked and stood up.

"Yeah," May nodded and strapped her backpack. "Now continue telling me what happened."

By the time Brendan had explained his dream to May, they had already found themselves at Slateport's massive Contest Hall. The building looked like a hybrid between a royal castle and a battle stadium. As large as it was, Brendan and May could have easily confused it for the Pokémon League.

"Wow, this place is huge," Brendan commented and looked up at the building.

"And the contest is about to start!" May exclaimed and checked the time on her PokéNav. "We don't want to be late!"

"More like _you _don't want to be late..." Brendan groaned and followed her inside.

Despite May's worries, it appeared that the contest hadn't started yet. People were still scattered about talking in their groups and taking pictures of one another. It seemed as if Brendan and May stood out as everybody else was dressed classy. The two trainers, on the other hand, were wearing the same raggy old clothes they had been traveling around with.

"Wow, maybe there was a lot more preparation involved in watching a contest than I expected," May said and observed all of the rich, upper class people waiting anxiously for the contest to begin. However, one specific person in the distance caught her attention rather quickly. "Over there, it's Lisia!"

"Lisia?" Before Brendan could receive a response, she had disappeared in a flash. He groaned and walked over to the crowd of people swamping the Hoenn celebrity to find May.

When he arrived, he could see that this Lisia girl was nothing short of gorgeous. It seemed that her entire blue appeal revolved around the Altaria perched next to her. She had fake clouds wrapped around her wrists and ankles and sky blue hair and clothing matched up perfectly with her Pokémon. The one feature that took Brendan's breath away, however, was her deep blue eyes which much resembled shining sapphires. The best part was that _she was his age!_

"Wow..." Brendan mumbled to himself dreamily.

"Lisia!" A news interviewer called out to her. "Who's your next contestant for 'pick-me-to-be-a-star'?"

Lisia observed the crowd around her carefully before she made her pick. Brendan waved his arms wildly so she would pick him. While he had no interest in Pokémon Contests, he just wanted the chance to talk to her. She ignored him and instead looked at a starstruck May who was frozen in place.

"I pick her!" Lisia exclaimed with a smile as the crowd groaned and pushed May forward.

"No!" Brendan complained and crossed his arms. "Wait a minute, she picked May! That means there's a chance!"

"M-me!?" May asked with wide eyes in disbelief. "Y-you want to p-pick me?"

"Hi! Have you never joined in a contest?" Lisia asked May in her signature high-pitched voice.

May, still starstruck, could not open her mouth to respond.

"That's, like, just what I wanted to hear!" Lisia exclaimed in response to the silence. "Good, now let's, like, get this show on the road!"

"What a good choice!" Brendan exclaimed with a smirk and came in between Lisia and May. He looked to the superstar and offered his hand. "Hi, I'm Brendan and I just _happen _to be your choice superstar's body guard."

"Get out of here, Brendan," May groaned and hurriedly shoved him off to the side.

"This is the Trainer I'm gonna scout today!" Lisia exclaimed and pulled May into the camera's spotlight. "And her name is..."

"May! May Birch!"

"And May Birch is, like, going to be the next contest superstar!" Lisia exclaimed into the camera. "Anyways, that's all for today's segment of 'pick-me-to-be-a-star'!"

As the cameras stopped rolling, the crowd around the group dissipated. While Lisia was a superstar and people wanted to be as close to her as possible, they knew when she wanted her alone time and left her with the two trainers.

"Now that all of the cameras are gone, you can honestly tell me if you don't want to do this," Lisia sighed and started to sniffle. "I mean, it's not like nobody ever wants to actually do this or anything..."

Out of nowhere, she started crying softly. Both trainers, still confused, didn't know how to react. Her Altaria didn't even seem to care, almost as if it was like a common occurrence.

"Are... are you okay?" Brendan asked her softly.

"Maybe if you backed off of her," May pulled her friend away before looking to Lisia. "Are... are you okay?"

"It's just that, like, everybody gets excited about this because they, like, want to be in this spotlight!" The starlet cried. "But then when it comes time for, like, the contest, everybody is too lazy or too apathetic to actually, like, want to be a part of it."

"There, there..." Brendan comforted the girl and placed his arm on her shoulder.

"_Please_ don't touch me," Lisia slowly removed his arm from around her.

"Brendan..." May chuckled and shook her head. "But I'll honestly do it."

"Really?" Lisia's eyes beamed at May's response. "You'll actually, like, enter the contest?"

"But didn't the contest already start?" May asked and looked to the time on her PokéNav. "In fact, I think it's fifteen minutes in."

"No, everybody likes to be fashinably late for me," Lisia answered. "Apparently the crowd loves it."

"Strange crowd, I guess?" May shrugged. "Anyways, I'll seriously enter the contest. Since I usually help my dad research Pokémon, I've always been more into a Pokémon's capabilities than a Pokémon's battling strengths."

"This is wonderful!" Lisia smiled and clasped her hands together. "Okay, umm, just, like, follow me into the changing room!"

She tugged May by her arm and dragged her through the gates. Brendan attempted to follow them but was stopped by security.

"And who do you think you are?" One of the security guards, who was clearly three times larger than Brendan, asked.

"Um... I'm that girls friend..." Brendan cowered. "I mean no harm, Mr. Security Guy."

"If you don't wanna get kicked out, then I suggest you play by the rules, okay?" The second security guard warned him.

"Okay..." Brendan nodded softly as the two left him alone. "Well, this sucks..."

Over in the changing room, Lisia was busy picking out dresses for May from the closet. As May was still very starstruck, she thought it would be best for Lisia to choose her dress. If she wanted to wear something for a crowd of thousands to see, it would have to be from Lisia's expertise. She was the contest star after all!

"Ooh, this one looks fabulous!" Lisia exclaimed and pulled out a flowery pink dress almost identical to her own out of the hangers. "It almost, like, reminds me of something."

"It looks great!" May responded and took the dress from Lisia's hands. She held it next to herself to get an idea of how it would look. "Yup, this is _definitely _my choice!"

"Well then get changed, like, quickly!" Lisia told her. "You're second!"

"I'm... I'm second?" May asked, dumbfounded. "Like I, the trainer with _zero _experience in contests, am the second trainer to go on?"

"Yup!"

"Umm... well... okay then." May swallowed. "I'll just get ready and all."

"Fabulous!" Lisia smiled and left May to herself.

"_What have I got myself into?_" She thought to herself as a thousand thoughts flooded her mind.

Yeah, she wanted to be a world famous Pokémon coordinator, but she at least wanted to have some preparation time! She sighed deeply and began to change. If anything, she figured that she'd at least go through with the contest for Lisia's sake.


	18. May's Appeal

_Author's note: I'm not going to do Pokémon Contests in this story like the anime does it. I find that way a bit too complicated to think about and write. Instead, I'm doing them in a similar way to the games._

**SLATEPORT CITY**

May took a deep breath and finished changing into her costume. It looked almost like Lisia's apart from the fact that it was pink and had streamers instead of clouds. Knowing that she would have the same appeal as the superstar, she felt a little more confident in her abilities.

She was still wildly thrown off by the fact that she was going _second _in a Pokémon Contest with absolutely no training whatsoever. Luckily, she had seen Pokémon Contests on TV and had the basic idea of what to do. All she had to do was go out there, dazzle with her costume, make sure her Pokémon looked good, and tell it to use as many pretty attacks as possible. Pretty easy, right?

She looked over at the TV screen above her in the room and saw the first coordinator giving his Pokémon its appeal commands. It looked as if he was using a Beautifly and had it use Silver Wind to appeal to the judges. May could tell that the judges were very pleased with the Pokémon and gave it a good score.

"How am I going to beat an experienced coordinator like that?" She asked herself with a groan. "This is going to be _so_ embarrassing..."

"_Contest number two, please enter the stadium_," the announcer called through the halls.

"Well, here goes nothing..." May muttered to herself and practiced a deep breathing technique for a few seconds.

She took slow, confident steps out the grande door from the changing room that led to the main stadium. The powerful open-stadium sunlight flooded her eyesight as the roaring noise of thousands of people cheering filled into her ears. She couldn't help but crack a smile and wave at all of the people that were cheering her on.

"Hey, good luck!" She heard a familiar voice call out from behind her. She turned her head to see that Brendan managed to snag himself a front-row seat. "Don't do anything stupid and you'll have this contest in the bag!"

"I won't..." she chuckled to herself and continued to walk up to the main stage.

"_And here we have the newcomer May Birch from Littleroot Town partaking in her first Pokémon Contest!_" The announcer announced into the stadium. "_Let's look to see what her choice of Pokémon is and what she does with it!_"

May took center staged and waved once more at the crowd. She figured that if she was in the spotlight, it would be better to just milk as much of it as possible. If she was nervous, then it would affect her performance negatively. And besides, who knew when this opportunity would come up again?

Three judges sat behind a table and watched as May sighed and pulled out a PokéBall from her contest outfit's belt. Fortunately for her, she had already known what her main contest Pokémon would be when she first started her journey.

"Torchic, let's get 'em!" She pumped her fist and sent out her Fire-type starter Pokémon.

Torchic appeared from the PokéBall in a flash and chirped happily. It ran around in circles for a little bit, much to the crowd's pleasure. When it tired itself out, it hopped cutely and stood next to its trainer.

"_Aww!_" The entire crowd roared.

"Score!" May muttered to herself and pumped her fist. "And we're already off to a good start!"

"_And May has chosen Torchic as her Pokémon!_" The announcer spoke into the mic in response to the crowd's cheers. "_Now that May and Torchic have shown their appeal, it's time to move on to the talent round!_"

"Okay Torchic..." May muttered to her Pokémon. "Just stay cool and confident and we'll have this in the bag. The crowd loves you!"

"_Let's see what May does here!_"

"Alright Torchic, direct your Ember attack to the sky!" May commanded.

Torchic nodded and charged up as much fire energy as possible within itself. When its energy had reached max capacity, it shot a flurry of tiny fireballs towards the sky.

"_Come on, May, what now?_" She asked herself. "Wait a minute, Torchic! Jump into the air and use Peck on all of the little fireballs!"

Torchic nodded again and hopped into the sky as far as possible. Realizing that it shot too many fireballs, it tried its best to destroy each one with its beak. However, there were more fireballs than it could handle in a set amount of time and it fell back to the ground. The entire crowd "booed" at May's attempt of an appeal. All three of the judges shook their heads behind the desk and had a small discussion about the appeal.

"No, May, you've gotta be better than that..." Brendan shook his head from his seat.

"Crap," May said to herself in reaction.

She heard the "boos" from the crowd pound into her head. She had started her appeal off too well to be able to make silly mistakes! If she wanted to pull through and get a good score, she would have to be better with her commands.

"_What in the world was that display?_" The announcer asked the audience. "_I've never seen a more confused attempt at an appeal in my life. __Let's hope May actually knows what she's doing..._"

Torchic sulked its way back to May in disappointment. It chirped sadly and looked up at its trainer.

"Don't worry, Torchic, I've got something up my sleeve..." May reassured her Pokémon. "Okay, honestly, I don't. How about you try that again?"

Torchic nodded and again spat a flurry of small fireballs into the sky. It hopped in the air again and tried to peck as many of the fireballs as possible. Even though it was able to destroy more, it still wasn't enough and most of the fireballs dissolved in the air. Knowing it didn't do what it was asked to do, it once again sulked back to its trainer.

"Not again!" May complained and stomped her foot on the ground.

She had no idea why she would even do that again. It was evident the first time that Torchic wasn't quick or powerful enough to pull off what she wanted it to do. She began to get nervous as she realized that her time was running out and she still hadn't thought of anything to do.

"_Did she really do that again? Even after the first failed attempt?_" the announcer asked. "_That's going to cost her a lot of points..._"

"Get it together, May!" Brendan shouted from his seat as he heard the crowd's "booing" intensify. "I _know _you're better than that! Come on, think of something!"

"Torchic, I believe in you!" May told her Pokémon. "I know you can do it!"

Torchic nodded slowly and looked to the sky again. If it wanted to perfect its appeal, it would have to be able to do something quickly. Thoughts flooded its tiny brain as it tried to work something out to be able to make its trainer proud. It knew May had invested a great amount of care into it and it had to be able to find a way to return the favor.

May felt the connection with Torchic and looked at it with desperation. She knew it was trying its best to help her out, but she knew that it had more to offer. Torchic was capable of more, and both of them knew that.

Suddenly, Torchic felt a spark light within itself and it glew in a bright white light. The entire crowd went silent to witness the event.

"_What's going on here!_" The announcer stood up from his seat to get a better look.

"Torchic!" May exclaimed.

"Whoa..." Brendan smiled.

The white light surrounding Torchic grew in size and height until it was almost half her height. When the light finally cleared, May could see that a more powerful Pokémon stood in Torchic's place. All of the judges just stared at the event in disbelief. The crowd went wild again.

"_I don't believe it! May's Torchic has evolved into Combusken right before our eyes!_"

"Awesome!" Brendan cheered and pumped his fist. "You can do this, May!"

"Combusken..." May smirked at her newly evolved Pokémon.

Combusken, determined to make its trainer proud, looked to the sky and cried out powerfully. The heat in the stadium intensified as the sun's rays became more powerful.

"_It appears that Combusken has used Sunny Day!_" The announcer informed the audience. "_You'd better prepare for a 'hot' performance!_"

"Nice pun..." May groaned at the announcer.

Combusken looked back to May and flashed her a thumbs-up. It looked to the sky again and let loose a powerful beam of fire towards the intense sun. There was a small burst of light as the intense sunlight ended and orange sparkles rained down on the stadium. The crowd's cheering got louder and louder as they watched the result of Combusken's attack descend onto them.

"_Wow, a Sunny Day and Overheat combo created a sparkly precipitate!_" The announcer exclaimed. "_And the judges are signaling that May's stage time has ended! Let's see what the judges grade her with..._"

"Wait, where did you even learn those moves?" May asked her Pokémon as she stared wildly in disbelief.

May looked to the judges and saw two them hold up giant "8"s while one held up a giant "9". She cheered to herself in content with her score. Even Combusken ran back to her to give her a big hug.

"_And the judges have given May a twenty-five out of thirty!_" The announcer said. "_Unfortunately, it's not going to be enough to win the contest, but it's fantastic for a rookie!_"_  
><em>

"Yeah May!" Brendan cheered wildly from his seat. "Whoo! I knew you could do it!"

"You're awesome, Combusken!" May smiled and hugged her Pokémon tightly. "We did great!"

May headed back into the backroom with her Pokémon and watched the rest of the contest from there. She could see that there were a lot of coordinators who were more experienced than her, but for her experience level, she was happy to receive the score she received. Even Combusken was surprised at its abilities.

When the contest ended and the winners received their ribbons, May tried to find Brendan back in the entrance hall. Feeling accomplished with the result of her performance, she was ready to continue their journey. After a bit of sifting through people, she was able to find her traveling companion going through his PokéDex.

"What're you doing?" She asked him.

"Oh, just going through some of the Pokémon I was able to register in my PokéDex after today's contest," Brendan answered and put his PokéDex away. "But congratulations on the contest!"

"Thanks!"

"You got really lucky that Torchic evolved just there."

"Hey, it wasn't luck!" May defended herself. "It was all Torchic's determination."

"Yeah, okay, _whatever_."

"Brendan..." she groaned irritably.

"Hey, I'm just kidding," he smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "You did great! Maybe after training a bit more you can eventually win your first one."

Lisia saw the two trainers talking and walked over to them. She figured that the least she could do was congratulate May on her performance and apologize for throwing her out there with no preparation. After all, May accepted her challenge.

"Hey, May," Lisia said to her fellow coordinator. "You did, like, really great out there!"

"Thanks, Lisia!" May beamed, once again in a starstruck state of paralysis.

"You know, I did help her out a bit..." Brendan told the celebrity with a smirk.

"That's, like, _really_ _great_ to know." Lisia dismissed him quickly and looked back to May. "I just, like, wanted to apologize and all for sending you out there with, like, _zero _preparation."

"It's okay," May shrugged. "After all, it's _I _who should be thanking _you _for letting me do a contest! It was really fun!"

"Well, that's, like, great to hear!" Lisia smiled. "I'm glad you had fun!"

"You three over there!" A man abruptly ran over to the group and cut their conversation off. "You have to come see this trainer!"

The three trainers confusedly followed the man over to a group of people who were intently watching a large TV screen. It seemed like some sort of news channel broadcasting a Pokémon battle. However, the fact that these people had their eyes glued to the screen meant that there was something special about this particular battle.

"_And we now return to the Mauville Gym__!_" The news anchor's grainy voice echoed from the TV set.

"Wait, gym battles can be shown on TV?" Brendan asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, if you, like, have enough badges and attract enough, like, media attention, then news reporters will, like, come and record your battles," Lisia answered. "I would know because, like, my uncle is a gym leader here in the Hoenn."

"Huh, I guess it's time to start tailing the media," Brendan muttered. "I'll take any step to make sure everybody knows my name!"

"_Things aren't looking good for the Mauville Gym Leader Wattson as he is now down to has fourth and final Pokémon, his trusty Manectric!_" The news anchor announced.

"Wow, must be some powerful trainer," May commented.

"_This mysterious trainer has managed to knock out all of Wattson's Pokémon so far with only her Latias!_"

"WHOA!" May and Lisia exclaimed in unison.

"A Latias!?" May asked in disbelief. "As in, she has a freaking _Latias_!?"

"Like, the legendary Pokémon Latias!?" Lisia added in.

"What's so cool about that, anyways?" Brendan asked. "I mean, Steven had a Regirock and it wiped the floor with me."

"Yeah, but this is a _Latias_!" Lisia exclaimed. "It's, like, one of the rarest Pokémon in the world! And besides, you're just some ordinary trainer. Wattson is a _Gym Leader_!"

"Hey, I'm not just any ordinary trainer!" Brendan crossed his arms in defense.

_"And Latias has finished Manetric off with a single Mist Ball!_" The announcer exclaimed. "_Can you believe it? This trainer now has three Hoenn badges using only her Latias! It's been a while since we've seen a trainer this powerful take on the Pokémon League challenge. At this pace, she will easily become the Pokémon League Champion._"

"Whoa, that _is _a strong Pokémon..." Brendan said with wide eyes. "One attack was all it took?"

"See what we're talking about?" Lisia asked. "That's, like, totally a strong Pokémon."

"I've always wanted to see one for myself!" May exclaimed. "To own one is way out of question."

"Well, if I ever run into her, I'm gonna challenge her to a battle," Brendan said. "And I'm gonna make sure I win."

**MAUVILLE CITY**

The smoke cleared the battlefield and both trainers could see that Manetric had fallen to the ground. Wattson fell to his knees and slammed the ground hard with his fist. Latias spun in circles in celebration and flew in front of her trainer.

"B-but how?" Wattson asked and called his Manetric back to its PokéBall. "It has been years since I have lost as hard as this. You destroyed me in my own gym!"

"It was a good battle, Wattson," Olivia replied and called her Latias back to her PokéBall.

"You have earned yourself the Dynamo Badge," he said as he got back up to his feet. He walked over to her with the badge in his hand. "I guess I should never underestimate any trainer with a legendary Pokémon."

Olivia took the badge from his hand and nodded in thanks. The next gym she had to conquer was in Lavaridge Town. If she wanted to finally make her Pokémon League dreams come true, she would have to make it to Lavaridge as soon as possible.

* * *

><p><em>Another author's note: I can see all of you who are reading the story and not reviewing! Like I said earlier, reviews help me understand what I'm doing right and wrong. Thank you to all of the readers who are consistently giving me reviews, it really helps a lot!<em>


	19. Brendan vs May

**ROUTE 110**

The next morning, Brendan and May decided that it would be best to head out of Slateport City. If they wanted to continue on their journey, they would have to to north to the next city, Mauville. After they checked out of the Pokémon Center, they were ready to continue their journey.

May in particular was excited about her journey. Even though she didn't win her first contest, she was extremely content with her results. She went out as an unprepared coordinator and still put up a score of twenty-five out of thirty. If anything, she exceeded her expectations by a longshot.

Brendan, on the other hand, was quietly nervous. After watching the gym battle between Wattson and Latias's trainer, he wasn't so sure he was up to par in terms of competition for the Pokémon League. If there were trainers like her and Steven out there, then who knew how many other legendary Pokémon were resting up in a trainer's PokéBalls? Brendan would have to be prepared for any kind of challenge.

Fortunately, Brendan had not experienced any nightmares over the night. Even though his dreams were kept intact for the time being, he was still thinking about what he saw the previous night. Was what he saw a warning for the rest of the world at what the two legendary Pokémon would do or did Darkrai just want to mess with him again?

As they approached Slateport City's exit gate, they could see a familiar face training her Pokémon in a patch of tall grass. When they got closer to her, they could see that it was none other than Lisia training Ali, her Altaria. It looked almost as if she were fighting a wild Poochyena.

"Alright, Ali, now use Dragon Pulse!" She commanded.

On command, Ali fired a beam of purple light at the opposing Poochyena. There was a small explosion and the Poochyena was flung backwards. Weighing its odds, it quickly darted away from the scene into the trees.

"That's how we do it, Ali!" Lisia cheered her Pokémon on and ran to give it a hug.

"Hey, Lisia!" May said and approached the coordinator.

"Oh, hey guys!" She turned around and smiled at the pair. "Like, what are you two doing here?"

"We were just headed to Mauville so Brendan could get his next Gym Badge," May answered. "Afterwards, we were going to check out Verdanturf because I heard that there's a Pokémon Contest going on there in a few days."

"Oh, you guys are headed there?" The contest star asked. "Mind if I tag along? I'm, like, headed there, too!"

"Of course you can tag along!" Brendan blurted out before realizing how awkward he sounded. "Uh... I mean... yeah, I'm chill with that."

"Umm, okay...?"

"Yeah..."

"So should we head out, then?" May asked, sensing the slight awkwardness of the situation caused by Brendan. "It'd be a good idea to get to the city as early as possible."

"Yup, sounds good to me!" Lisia nodded.

The three trainers and Ali traveled over the lengthy land bridge connecting Slateport and Mauville. The bridge was a long, winding road over the deep blue Hoenn sea that greatly increased travel time. While it was placed there artificially, wild Pokémon such as Poochyena still managed to make their homes there.

The trio figured that since they had neither Pokémon that could swim effectively nor bikes to travel on the cycling road, their best bet would be to walk on the land. Since Brendan and May had traveled in Mr. Briney's ship for the past few cities, it felt weird for them to have to walk to the next city again.

"My legs are _killing _me," Brendan groaned. "How much longer do we have to walk for?"

May looked down at the map on her PokéNav. "Well, it says here that we still have a long ways to go."

"Oh, come on!" Brendan complained. "There's literally nothing on this bridge other than a few stray Pokémon. They're not even Pokémon that I want to catch! I mean, my PokéDex picked up a Gulpin, for Pete's sake. I mean, what the hell even is a Gulpin?"

"I have an idea!" Lisia exclaimed and stopped walking. Brendan and May stopped and looked back at her. "Like, how about the two of you battle? Wouldn't that be a good way to kill some, like, time _and _get a good rest for our legs? And besides, I wanna be, like, entertained right now!"

Brendan and May glanced over to each other quickly. Lisia was right, maybe a quick battle was all they needed to have some fun on the long walk. And after all, Brendan and May had never even battled before.

"You know what? I think that's a good idea," Brendan nodded. "I mean, after all these days traveling with May, we've still never had a battle."

"Yeah, that's true," May agreed. "And besides, I can take you easily!"

"So what do you say, two-on-two?" Brendan asked.

"I'd say that sounds good," May nodded and stood on one edge of the land bridge.

"Then let's get this show on the road!" Brendan smirked and stood on the other end.

"Ooh, this is, like, so exciting!" Lisia squealed and stood at the edge of what appeared to be their battlefield along with Ali.

Brendan and May each pulled out a PokéBall for their first Pokémon. Since Brendan knew May had the type advantage over his trusty Grovyle with her newly evolved Combusken, he would have to use strategy to cut it out. As a result, he slowly put away the PokéBall he initially drew and pulled out another one.

"I've planned for this battle," Brendan told her. "You'd better be ready!"

"Oh, I'm more than ready!" May announced and flung her PokéBall. "Combusken, I'm going with you!"

May's Fire-type starter took her side of the field in a small flash of white light. It fell to the ground and cried out into the air before waiting for its trainer's commands.

"Combusken, eh?" Brendan smirked and threw his PokéBall forward. "Magikarp, I choose you!"

Magikarp emerged from Brendan's PokéBall in a flash of white. As it fell to the ground, its shining gold skin let out a flash of sparkles.

"Whoa, you have a shiny Pokémon?" Lisia asked and observed Brendan's Pokémon.

"Well, yeah, I mean it _is _golden after all," Brendan shrugged. "So I _guess _you could call it 'shiny'."

"No, I mean you have a 'shiny Pokémon'."

"What do you mean?"

"Like, it's an insanely rare chance that some Pokémon are born with a color defect," Lisia explained. "Because of that, shiny Pokémon are super sought out after Pokémon collectors. You must be really lucky!"

"Whoa..." Brendan marveled at his flopping fish Pokémon. "So you _are _extraordinary after all."

"That's no matter!" May snapped. "I'm going to win this battle regardless! Combusken, use Overheat!"

"Magikarp, use Water Gun!"

Combusken charged its body with fire energy per May's commands. Magikarp, on the other hand, was happily flopping up and down. Combusken released the beam of fire from its body straight at Brendan's Magikarp. Magikarp continued to flop in one place regardless of the attack's damage.

"Magikarp, why didn't you do anything!?" Brendan complained in frustration. "Don't tell me you're like Lairon!"

"I told you Magikarp was utterly useless!" May laughed. "It can't use an attack like Water Gun. It can only learn four attacks: Splash, Tackle, Flail, and Bounce."

"Are you kidding me?" Brendan asked angrily. "You're telling me a Water-type Pokémon can't even use a Water-type attack?"

"No, I had to study one with my dad on one of his research trips," May explained. "Trust me, I know firsthand what a useless Pokémon it is."

"Well, that doesn't matter to me!" Brendan told her. "I'm going to make sure I can use Magikarp's attacks to its strengths. Magikarp, use Flail!"

Magikarp flopped all the way over to Combusken where it flopped violently in the Pokémon's face. Combusken tried to swat Magikarp away using its hands, but the fish Pokémon was far too fast for its reflexes. It did its damage and then flopped back over in front of Brendan.

"See, Magikarp isn't useless!" Brendan pumped his fist. "As we just saw right there, it's fast as hell!"

"Don't get too ahead of yourself, Brendan, Magikarp is only fast when there's moisture in the air," Lisia broke in from the sideline. "It's part of its ability, _Swift Swim_. We're standing in a patch of land that is surrounded by the sea, so it's no wonder that Magikarp is fast."

May stood in thought of what to tell her Combusken to do. Clearly, Magikarp was at an advantage with the battle taking place with the sea surrounding them. May would have to find a way to play Magikarp into tiring out. For such a useless Pokémon, May had to scour into her brain to figure something out.

"Now what if I removed that advantage?" May asked herself with a smirk. "Thanks for the info, Lisia, but I think I know what to do from here."

"And what's that?" Brendan asked tauntingly. "You're playing in Magikarp's domain."

"Combusken, use Sunny Day!"

Combusken looked to the sky as its eyes glinted at the sun. For the area that the battle was taking place in, there was a small ray of intense light hailing from the sun. Combusken flexed its muscles as it felt the heat energy surge through its body. Magikarp, on the other hand, began to flop in worry.

"Damn, May, it's so hot!" Brendan complained and wiped some newly formed sweat from his forehead. "You should learn when its appropriate to use that move!"

"It's more than appropriate right now. Combusken, use Overheat!"

"Magikarp, use one more Flail!"

Combusken combined the new heat energy with its body and charged up a storm of fire within itself. Magikarp, on the other hand, flopped lifelessly over to Combusken. Before it could even hop up to its level, however, Combusken let loose its beam of fire at it. Magikarp flew back in burning pain and stopped flopping.

"Magikarp is unable to battle!" Lisia announced. "May has knocked out one of Brendan's Pokémon already!"

"No!" Brendan stomped the ground and called his Pokémon back to its PokéBall. He sighed and switched it out with another one. "Magikarp did the best it could, but I know Grovyle is capable of sweeping your team!"

Brendan hurled Grovyle's PokéBall and sent his Grass-type starter in a flash of white. Grovyle took the field and hissed at its opposing Combusken. However, it felt the intense power of the sunlight and tried to cover its eyes with its hands.

"Looks like I've got Grovyle weakened, too," May smirked. "This battle's gonna be easy street."

"That's what Grovyle _wants _you to think," Brendan replied. "Grovyle, use Leaf Blade."

Grovyle, despite listening to its trainer's commands, could only muster forming a Leaf Blade with one hand. It had to keep its other hand over its eye to prevent the sun from getting into it. Grovyle ran at Combusken and swung its one hand at it, but it didn't do as much damage as it was hoping to.

"No!" Brendan shouted. "Grovyle, you've gotta be better than that!"

"Combusken, use Overheat!"

"Grovyle, get out of the way and use Leaf Blade!"

Grovyle tried its best to listen to its trainer's commands, but the sunlight was too crippling for it. It wasn't able to attack properly and instead tried to defend itself to the best of its capabilities. Combusken, on the other hand, opened its mouth wide and let loose a powerful beam of fire, albeit this one being smaller than the previous one.

"Why was my Overheat attack weaker?" May asked, puzzled.

"Overheat weakens after each use," Lisia explained.

"But it didn't weaken before," May tilted her head to the side.

"That's because you had the Sunny Day to back it up."

Grovyle fell to the ground as it felt its scales burn with Combusken's attack. Even though it wanted to make Brendan proud, it didn't have the energy within itself to stand up. It let out a deep breath and let itself be defeated. The intense sunlight subsided and everyone in the battlefield was able to feel the cool sea breeze again.

"Grovyle is unable to battle!" Lisia exclaimed. "May is the winner!"

"No!" Brendan growled and stomped the ground. "No fair!"

"Hey, I used strategy to my own good," May shrugged. "I guess the better trainer just won."

"But... but..." Brendan looked to the ground in defeat and brought his Pokémon back to its PokéBall. "But I'm supposed to be the Pokémon master..."

Brendan felt an intense rage within himself. He wanted to be the best trainer he could possibly be, but with three straight losses coming from Steven, Aiden, and now May, he was seriously doubting his capabilities. How could he possibly take on Mauville's gym leader if he couldn't even take on one of May's Pokémon?

"You're right, the better trainer won..." Brendan mumbled.

"Hey, it's not the end of the world," May said softly and returned her Pokémon to its PokéBall. "I mean, now you know how to play to your Pokémon's strengths."

"I guess so..." Brendan sighed in disappointment. "My Pokémon gave it their all, especially little Magikarp. I can't say I'm upset by the effort they put forth."

"Hey, like, keep your head high," Lisia told him as she walked over to the two of them. "I'm positive you'll win your next battle."

"You promise?" Brendan asked and looked over to her.

"Promise."

Brendan suddenly felt all of the anger leave his body. After all, it was May he lost to, not just some random trainer. If anything, he should have been proud of her for channeling the inner strengths of her Pokémon. She battled better, and there was no denying that.

"Good job, May," he smiled and shook her hand. "You really did good. I'm proud of you."

"That's the spirit!" Lisia exclaimed.

"Thanks, Brendan!" She chirped. "It means a lot coming from you."

"Yeah, well I'm just glad my friend was able to win a battle today."

Brendan suddenly felt happy. He was truly proud of the fact that May was a capable trainer. Something about it was comforting to him. This way, he knew that if he were to ever run into trouble, he could look to May for help. After all, she had beaten him in a battle.

* * *

><p><em>Small author's note: Thanks for giving me some good review on my last chapter! It was great to hear all of your suggestions and feedback on what my characters have doneare about to do. Like last time, it would be super if you all just left reviews again! Thaaaanks!_


	20. Food Fight!

**MAUVILLE CITY**

It took a while of walking, but the trio was finally able to make it to the bustling Mauville City at night. Unlike other cities in the Hoenn Region, Mauville City was actually one giant building; a mall. All houses, apartments, stores, restaurants, parks, training facilities, and the Mauville City Gym were housed in different areas of this large building.

When the trio arrived in the city, they could tell that there was much to do. While Brendan's main goal remained obvious - to challenge the gym - May and Lisia seemed to have other plans. They were taken in by the large amount of stores to go shopping in. Knowing he would have to wait till tomorrow anyways to challenge Wattson, Brendan didn't seem too irritated that the girls were hopping from store to store. Still, however, he was growing impatient with their indecisiveness.

"Do you girls even know what you want?" Brendan asked the two as they walked into a PokéDoll store. "I mean, we've been to three stores already and neither of you have bought anything."

"Oh, be quiet," May shushed him. "It's not like you have a better idea."

"Yeah, like, let us have our fun!" Lisia agreed. "We're both going to watch your little gym battle tomorrow, so just have patience now."

"That would have been easier if you guys actually knew what you wanted, though," Brendan groaned. "But fine, I'll 'be patient'."

The girls smiled and continued to scan through the aisles. Mauville City was like a dream come true for them. The store had rows upon rows of stores for just about anything. Any girl would have been lost on its 'streets' looking for crap that they didn't actually need.

"Hey, how about we go looking at a Pokémon Contest accessory shop?" May suggested.

"That's, like, a fabulous idea!" Lisia nodded. "Let's go!"

"Oh, come on!" Brendan groaned and followed the pair out of the store.

He watched as they ran around the halls of the mall looking for a good Pokémon Contest store. Eventually, they found one and ran straight in. When Brendan walked in behind them, he could see that the store was filled up neatly with special things for Pokémon to wear in contests.

May and Lisia were ravaging through the aisles looking for good products for their Pokémon. Whatever was put up earlier had been messed up as they were carelessly knocking things off shelves in hopes that they would find something good for their Pokémon. Brendan slapped his palm onto his face and walked over to the two who were kneeled on the ground going through accessories.

"You guys are making a mess!" Brendan shouted at them. "I mean, look at what you've done to this place! It's someone's _job _to fix this up."

"Wow, this top hat would look great on Combusken!" May exclaimed, completely ignoring Brendan. She continued to shift through some rows of clothing to find something nice. "Actually, I could definitely see Combusken wearing this black cape!"

"And, like, this silk veil would make Ali look fabulous!" Lisia added in and dug deeper into the pile of clothes. "Oooh, and this comet prop would, like, also look amazing!"

"There's so much to choose from!"

"And such little time!" Brendan exclaimed. "It's late at night, we should be getting to bed soon."

"If you really want to go to bed, then just go," May told him. "It's not like you can't check into a Pokémon Center by yourself."

"You know what?" Brendan chuckled. "I don't know why I didn't do that from the beginning. Well, I'm going to be off. Good night!"

"Yup, you too!" May waved him goodbye and watched as he headed to the store's exit. When he was out of eye-shot, she continued going through some of the accessories. "_Now _we have all the time in the world to buy stuff for our Pokémon!"

"Yes!" Lisia pumped her fist.

Brendan exited the store and continued to walk down the halls of the city. While he wasn't exactly tired yet, he figured that he would get a bite of food at the Mauville Food Court. He carefully navigated his way through the city until he could see an opening with several restaurants. His belly rumbled at the thought of food and he instantly knew he made the right decision.

When he walked inside, he could see that the cafeteria was bustling with trainers. Everybody was talking to one another about their _Pokémon_, something that Brendan hadn't heard in a while. Most of these trainers even had their Pokémon out of their PokéBalls sitting next to them. As an aspiring Pokémon master, he figured that these were his type of people.

As he walked through the tables, he could see a familiar face sitting with an older man at a table nearby. Recognizing the signature messy chartreuse hair as Wally's, he walked over to the table to sit with them. It seemed as if the conversation he was having with the man was tense.

"Hey, Wally," Brendan said and tapped the boy's shoulder. "What're you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just visiting my uncle in Verdanturf," Wally answered and pointed to the older man. "I wanted to challenge the gym leader here, but my uncle doesn't think I'm ready for it."

"That's because you're not," his uncle said softly. "Wally, you are in no shape to take on a gym leader."

"That's not true!" Wally exclaimed. "Me and Kirlia are more than capable of taking on a gym!"

Right from the get-go, Brendan could notice that a lot had changed about Wally. His words were not broken, he was not afraid to stand up to people (notably his uncle, of all people), and his voice was more powerful. Wally truly was a Pokémon trainer.

"Hey, Wally, I have a suggestion," Brendan cut in. "How about you battle me, one-on-one?"

"You? Battle with Wally?" His uncle asked.

"I'm game," Wally answered and looked to his uncle. "If I win, then I will challenge the gym leader. If I lose, then I will go back to Verdanturf with you."

His uncle wanted to speak, but he was rendered speechless by the determination in Wally's eyes. This was the determination he had not seen from the boy in a long time. He knew that if he didn't give Wally the chance to show his strengths, he would regret it.

"Fine..." his uncle sighed. "But only if you win can you challenge Wattson."

"I'll battle with those terms," Wally nodded and stood up. He cleared a small area of tables away to make room for a battlefield. "Are you ready, Brendan?"

"Let's do this," Brendan said and stood up on the other side of Wally's battlefield.

Several trainers who were eating and talking noticed the two face each other. They all cut what they were doing and formed a circle around the two trainers to watch the battle.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" The crowd chanted.

"I hope you're prepared to deal with a Psychic-type Pokémon like Kirlia," Wally told Brendan and pulled out his sole PokéBall. "We've come too far on this journey to lose to you."

"Oh, believe me, I'm prepared," Brendan smirked and pulled out his own PokéBall. "Whismur, I choose you!"

Both trainers sent their PokéBalls onto the battlefield as Whismur and Kirlia appeared in two flashes. The Pokémon fell to the ground and let out a battle cry aimed at each other. Brendan, wanting to know more about Wally's Pokémon, pulled out his PokéDex.

"_Kirlia, the Emotion Pokémon_," his PokéDex started. "_Kirlia uses the horns on its head to amplify its psychokinetic power. When the Pokémon uses its power, the air around it becomes distorted, creating mirages of nonexistent scenery._"

"Mirages, eh?" Brendan mumbled to himself. If Wally was able to connect with Kirlia, then Brendan would have to be ready for any sort of extraordinary power it might have. "Whismur, use Uproar!"

"No, Kirlia, block it out with a-"

Before Wally was able to finish his command, Whismur opened its mouth wide and let out its signature ear-splitting scream. All of the trainers watching, Brendan and Wally included, covered their ears in pain. Whismur's attack finally died down after a few seconds and Kirlia let out a sigh of relief as its pain ended.

"Alright, Kirlia, now use Confusion!"

"No, Whismur, mess up its concentration with another Uproar!"

Whismur opened its mouth wide again and shouted at the top of its lungs. Everybody around the battlefield had already prepared for the attack with their ears covered. Kirlia, on the other hand, completely blocked the attack out of its head and concentrated on its opponent. It let loose a flash of blue light at Whismur, who shut its mouth in response. After a pause, there was a small explosion where Whismur stood as it was hurled into the air and sent crashing back to the ground.

"Score!" Wally pumped his fist.

"Whismur, get back up and use Pound!" Brendan commanded.

Whismur, on the other hand, was extremely loopy. It imagined itself in a paradise world where there were tall tress with fruits lined up all over them. It started to hop up and down in an attempt to reach the imaginary trees.

"Whismur, what are you doing?"

"It looks like Whismur was confused," Wally said.

"Confused?"

"It's part of Kirlia's Confusion attack. That, and Kirlia's ability to send opponents into a mirage world."

"Damn it..." Brendan growled. He would have to think of something fast in order to avoid his fourth straight loss. "Whismur, listen to me!"

Whismur, however, was still loopy and in another world. It continued to hop in place, trying to reach the fruit-bearing trees.

At this time, Lisia and May had finished browsing through the stores. They heard a commotion coming from the food court and saw Brendan and Wally standing opposite from each other in battle. They quickly rushed to the sidelines to get a good view.

"I really hope Brendan doesn't lose again..." May mumbled. "I don't think his confidence can take it."

"Alright, Kirlia, now use Magical Leaf!" Wally commanded.

"Whismur, don't let it attack you!" Brendan pleaded. "Do something!"

Kirlia created a storm of glowing rainbow leaves in the air around it. It let the leaves revolve around it before it let out a battle cry and sent them flying at Whismur. Whismur, not being in the real world, felt that the leaves attacking it were falling from the trees of its paradise world.

"No, Whismur!"

"Now finish the job with another Magical Leaf!"

"Whismur!" Brendan called out. "Whismur!"

"There's, like, no way Whismur can survive that," Lisia grumbled from the sidelines. "Brendan's screwed!"

Kirlia once again formed a large amount of rainbow leaves in the air around it. It concentrated for a few seconds and took aim at Whismur. When everything fell into place, it fired the leaves at its opponent.

Suddenly, something clicked in Whismur's brain. It heard its trainer's voice call it out repeatedly from a distance until the voice got louder. Eventually, Whismur's false paradise disappeared and it realized that it was in a battlefield. It shook its head and faced Kirlia's attack angrily.

"It actually got up!" May exclaimed.

"Yes!" Brendan cheered. "Now stop its attack with an Uproar!"

Whismur opened its mouth wide and let out a powerful roar. The wind caused by the roar blew the leaves right back at Kirlia, damaging it with its own attack. Eventually, Whismur's roar became too much for Wally's Pokémon to handle. It fell to its knees and clutched its head in pain.

"Kirlia, get up!" Wally shouted to his Pokémon. "I need you to win this battle for me! Please!"

"Whismur, take Kirlia out with-"

Brendan cut himself off before he was able to give Whismur its command. Even though he had the battle in full control, something prevented him from commanding Whismur's next attack. He looked at Wally, who was shouting helplessly at his Pokémon, trying to encourage it to stand up. He knew that if he were to beat Wally, then his uncle would take him back to Verdanturf town and his life as a Pokémon trainer would end abruptly.

"Kirlia, please get up! You're my only hope!"

Kirlia eventually let its trainer's voice reach its head as it was finally able to stand up. It shouted softly and looked Whismur dead in the eyes.

"Woohoo!" Wally cheered. "Kirlia, use one more Confusion! Make sure this one takes Whismur out!"

Brendan couldn't help but smile as Kirlia let loose its Psychic-type attack on his Pokémon. Whismur wasn't able to take the full force of the attack and it fell to the ground, unable to battle. Brendan looked to the ground and sighed deeply as all of the spectators cheered on Wally as the victor.

"Well, he lost again..." May groaned.

"It looked more like he threw this match, though," Lisia observed. "He could have clearly told, like, Whismur to use an attack but, like, he totally didn't."

"Now that you mention it..."

Brendan looked over to the side and saw May and Lisia standing and watching him. He knew that they would be disappointed him him, but he still made the right decision.

Despite the fact that Brendan wanted the Pokémon trainer within himself to win, he also wanted Wally to live out his dreams. But by defeating him in front of his uncle, he would only crush the new trainer's hopes and send him back to where he came from. Wally had come so far and it would be cruel of Brendan to be selfish in battle. And besides, this gave Brendan another rival to compete with and train against.

"Whismur, you did good..." Brendan whispered to his Pokémon as he called it back to its PokéBall. He looked over to Wally. "Congratulations on the win. It was a good battle."

"No way..." Wally mumbled and ran to hug his Pokémon. "I... I won... I beat Mr. Norman's son!"

Brendan glanced over at their table to see that Wally's uncle was beaming. He knew by that smile that it had been a while since the family had seen Wally accomplish something. When the crowd dissolved, his uncle finally stood up.

"I'm proud of you, boy," Wally's uncle said and walked over to his nephew. "I can't believe I ever doubted you."

"So does this mean I can challenge the gym leader?" Wally asked with hope in his eyes.

"Yes, yes it does," his uncle nodded.

"Good luck," Brendan said and approached his new rival. "I know you and Kirlia will do great."

"Thanks, Brendan," Wally nodded. "I promise I'll win this one for you."

"I take it you will," Brendan smiled.

"You did good, Wally," May said and approached them along with Lisia.

"Yeah, like, you totally knew how to battle with Kirlia," Lisia added in.

"Thanks guys, it really means a lot!"

"Now we should head back home for the night," Wally's uncle told him. "I'll let you come back in the morning for the gym battle."

"Alright, uncle," Wally nodded and looked over to the three. "I've got to go for now, but I'll see you tomorrow. And Brendan, I look forward to battling you soon!"

"I do too," Brendan smiled.

Wally turned around and left the food court with his uncle as everybody inside cheered him on. Brendan was not only proud of himself, but also of Wally. He knew that give time, Wally would be a force to reckon with. When Wally was gone, he turned to his friends.

"So, what did you think of the battle?" He asked them.

"I think you purposely let Wally win," May told him.

"That's exactly what I did," Brendan sighed.

"Like, why'd you do it, though?" Lisia asked. "Don't you, like, wanna be the best?"

"If I beat Wally, then his uncle wouldn't let him challenge the gym leader," Brendan explained. "I didn't want to ruin his journey, so I gave him the match in order to let his uncle see that he's a capable Pokémon trainer."

"Well, I guess I can't complain about that," May shrugged.

"That's, like, totally nice of you!" Lisia smiled. "Fabulous!"

"You know, it's getting kind of late," May said. "Don't you think we should crash for the night?"

"I agree," Brendan yawned. "All this battling has me tired."

"You two are lame," Lisia groaned. "But fine, let's go get some sleep."

The three trainers headed out of the city and to a Pokémon Center to get themselves checked into for the night. As Brendan was the only male in the group, he would have to room alone. Since he had done it before with his nightmares, he fully prepared himself for whatever obstacle Darkai was willing to throw his way.

He tucked himself into bed and mentally readied himself to be brave. Everything that would happen would only be a dream and completely outside of reality.

"I'm ready for you, Darkrai..." Brendan mumbled to himself and slowly closed his eyes. "Give me your worst."

**BRENDAN'S DREAMS**

_Brendan slowly woke up in the same dark island that he had his first nightmare in. He got up and took a good look around at the island. This time, however, it seemed that not all of the grass was dead. There were even some leaves remaining on the trees. He could see that at the end of the island was the same stone tablet from before._

_"Why does this place look more alive?" Brendan asked himself and walked over to the tablet._

_"All dreams are but another reality. Never forget…" the tablet read._

_Brendan sighed and closed his eyes. He knew that the minute he opened his eyes, the engraving on the tablet would change._

_"All dreams are but another reality. Never forget…" the tablet read again._

_To Brendan's surprise, the tablet remained unchanged. He looked once more around at the island to find that it was no longer floating in the shadows. Instead, it seemed to be lush with green life and surrounded by a small stream with the blue sky above it. Over the end of the island he could see the open ocean. _

_"This isn't a nightmare," he mumbled to himself._

_"No, it is not," a deep voice bellowed through the sky. "I am proud of you, trainer..."_


	21. An Angry Lairon

**MAUVILLE CITY**

"Magneton, use Thunderbolt!" Wattson commanded his Magnet Pokémon.

Magneton charged its metallic body with a surge of electricity. Once it felt balance with the lightning, it let loose an attack of high voltage at Wally's Kirlia. Kirlia fell down in shock and was unable to battle.

"Kirlia, no!" Wally cried out and called his Pokémon back to its PokéBall. "I thought I had it in me..."

"Maybe if you had more Pokémon on your team," Wattson said and walked over to the young trainer. He placed his arm on the teenager's shoulder. "It seemed that Kirlia itself was not strong enough to take on a full Pokémon team."

"You're right..." Wally nodded. "I'm going to get a team full of strong Pokémon and then I'm going to beat all of the gyms!"

"That's the spirit, child," Wattson smiled. "Now come back here when you've finally assembled your team."

"Will do."

In Mauville's Pokémon Center, Brendan's PokéNav alarm clock went off. He quickly got up and fumbled around on the nightstand in order to shut it off. When the buzzing subsided, Brendan slowly sat up and scratched his eyes open. It was a new day and he would have to get ready to face Mauville City's gym leader.

He suddenly remembered the dream he had the night before as a result of his selflessness. Out of curiosity, he wondered how Wally did in his gym battle. Hopefully Wally was able to win using his new found confidence, but it was also possible that the gym leader was thirsty for victory after his embarrassing loss to the mysterious trainer with Latias.

Brendan slipped into his bathroom shoes as he went in to brush, shave, shower, and change. After he was done with all four, he looked in the mirror and adjusted his hat per morning ritual. It would take a lot of confidence to defeat a gym leader, and making sure he looked good was just the first step in being confident. Brendan knew that he wouldn't get as lucky as he did against Roxanne and Brawly, so it would take strategy and planning.

He remembered that the gym leader used a Manectric in battle, a well-known Electric-type Pokémon. Brendan figured that the Mauville City Gym was probably a primarily Electric-type gym and he would have to plan for attacks such as Thunderbolt and Shock Wave.

As he always heard every morning, there was a loud pitter-patter of knocking on his door. Expecting May and Lisia, he opened his door to find the two of them waiting for him. And like always, May had that usual look of impatience wiped on her face.

"You said you wanted to go face the gym leader a half hour ago," May reminded him. "Why do you sleep in so often?"

"Sorry May, I just have to get my beauty sleep in," he chuckled. "Anyways, you girls ready to go?"

"Yup," they both nodded in unison.

Not too long after, they all managed to check out of the Pokémon Center and headed down the "streets" all the way to what appeared to be the Pokémon gym. While it had "Mauville City Pokémon Gym" written on it, the entrance door looked more like the door to a supply closet than it did to a gym.

"I guess this is it?" Brendan asked, hoping to receive nods of approval from the girls.

"I don't know, if you think it is then go inside," May shrugged. "I'm not the aspiring Pokémon master here."

Brendan groaned at her response and opened the large door. On the other side, Brendan could see a massive mechanical battlefield that was lit by electrical circuits running through the entire area. It almost looked as if the gym leader wanted to leave the gym unfinished for some sort of electrical appeal.

Brendan could see in the distance that an old man in a yellow jumpsuit with a Hawaiian shirt thrown over it was working on some sort of cable. Not wanting to disturb his work, Brendan slowly approached the man. He lightly tapped him on the shoulder once he reached him.

"Um, excuse me?" Brendan asked as the man turned around quickly.

"Oh, yes, hello there!" The man smiled. "Who are you?"

"I'm Brendan and I was wondering if you knew where the gym leader of Mauville City was."

"The gym leader of Mauville City?" The man asked. "Why that would be none other than I, Wattson!"

"Oh, cool!" Brendan exclaimed. "So how about we get a battle started right away?"

"I don't see why not!"

"Please make it quick, though," May said to Wattson as she and Lisia stood on the sidelines.

"Let's get ready to battle!" Brendan smiled and stood on one end of the battlefield. After fighting two gym leaders, he already knew the drill. "So what are the rules here?"

"What do you mean?" Wattson asked and took the other side of the battlefield.

"How many Pokémon can we use?"

"Well, we can use as many as we want, but the minimum is set to three," Wattson explained.

"So how about a three-on-three?" Brendan asked. He had already planned the battle and thought it would be a good idea to sit Magikarp out with it being a Water-type.

"Fine by me," Wattson nodded. "But make sure you have at least three Pokémon. I had a trainer show up here earlier today with only one Pokémon."

"Wally..." Brendan mumbled under his breath. Wally must have come by earlier with Kirlia and lost. He looked into Wattson's eyes. "I have three Pokémon and they're all ready to win."

"Good attitude," Wattson said and pulled out a PokéBall.

"Cool, then let's get this show on the road!" Brendan smirked and pulled out his first PokéBall. "Whismur, I choose you!"

"Voltorb, you're up first!"

Both trainers sent their PokéBalls onto the battlefield as their Pokémon appeared from them. They both fell to the ground and stood in front of their trainers.

"Alright Whismur, use Uproar!"

Whismur opened its mouth wide and let out a powerful wall of noise. Despite screaming at the top of its lungs, however, Voltorb seemed to take no damage. When Whismur's attack subsided, Voltorb just stood there as if Whismur didn't even do anything.

"W-what?" Brendan threw his arms out. "It didn't do anything!"

"That's, like, because Voltorb's attack prevents sound damage!" Lisia shouted from the sidelines.

"That would be correct," Wattson nodded. "Now Voltorb, use Shock Wave!"

"Whismur, dodge it and try to use Pound!"

Voltorb's eyes flashed a bright yellow and it released an energy of lightning bolts as Whismur. Whismur ran around the lightning and flopped its wings as it flew towards Voltorb. However, it was stopped in its tracks as Voltorb's attack changed direction and struck Whismur directly.

"H-h-how did that happen?" Brendan asked desperately. "That's not even possible!"

"Shock Wave is an attack that never misses," Wattson explained. "It scours its opponents vital signs and directs it lightning towards them. It's part of the appeal of Electric-type attacks."

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Brendan groaned. "But I won't let that stop me! Whismur, use Pound!"

"Voltorb, use another Shock Wave!"

Whismur hopped around everywhere as Voltorb let loose another powerful wave of lightning. This time, however, Whismur was able to get to Voltorb as it slammed into the circular Pokémon with its ears. Before Whismur could do any real damage, though, Voltorb's Shock Wave attack came and struck it from behind. Whismur cried out before falling to the ground, unable to battle.

"And Whismur is unable to battle!" Lisia announced. "Brendan is now down to two more Pokémon!"

"Thanks, Lisia, but I know that!" Brendan shouted angrily and called his Pokémon back to its PokéBall. He pulled out another PokéBall and sent it flying forward. "Grovyle, it's your turn!"

Grovyle flashed out of its PokéBall and fell to the field in front of Brendan. It hissed softly and looked at its much smaller opponent.

"Grovyle, see if you can use a Quick Attack!" Brendan commanded.

"Voltorb, keep at it with another Shock Wave!"

Grovyle loosened its muscles and darted straight for Voltorb as fast as it could go. Voltorb attempted to protect itself by sending out a flash of lightning from its attack at Grovyle, but Grovyle leafy body made it a bad electrical conductor. Voltorb's attack did almost nothing to Grovyle as it was send hurling into the air by the Quick Attack.

"Voltorb!" Wattson shouted as he watched his Pokémon fall to the field. "No!"

"Awesome, Grovyle!" Brendan pumped his fist. "Now drain its life energy with Absorb!"

Grovyle shot out red beams of light energy out of its hands as they latched onto Voltorb. Voltorb could feel the pain within itself as Grovyle drained it of health.

"Voltorb, don't let it take you out!" Wattson shouted. "Use Self-Destruct!"

"Self-Destruct?" Brendan asked, puzzled. "You'd really do that?"

"Watch it!"

As Grovyle was busy sucking Voltorb of its health, Voltorb began to glow a bright orange. In a matter of seconds, it loudly detonated itself as smoke filled the battlefield. Grovyle, using its Absorb attack, hurt itself even more as it sucked it damaging energy from Voltorb's Self-Destruct attack.

"Voltorb is do-o-o-own and out!" Lisia exclaimed in a sing-song voice.

"Grovyle is still kickin'!" Brendan cheered. "You can't do anything to him!"

"Well, maybe your Pokémon is stronger than I thought it would be," Wattson sighed and called Voltorb back to its PokéBall. He looked to his belt and pulled out another one. "Voltorb was easy, but try taking out Magneton!"

The Magnet Pokémon appeared from its PokéBall in a flash of white and started to beep as it analyzed Grovyle. Grovyle, taken back in slight discomfort, lightly hissed to itself.

"What's it doing?" Brendan asked the gym leader.

"It like to analyze its opponents," Wattson answered. "That's how it gives me an edge. Magneton, use Metal Sound!"

An emittance of noise was released from the magnets on Magneton's three heads. Even though Brendan couldn't hear the noise due to its audibility being higher than a human's possible hearing, he could see that the attack was getting to Groyvle's head.

"Grovyle, snap out of it and use Leaf Blade!"

Grovyle shook its head in an attempt to rid the sound waves and formed blades of leaves out of its wrists. It ran for Magneton and slashed at it. However, its metal encasing prevented a good amount of Grovyle's physical damage.

"Now Magneton, take advantage of your Metal Sound set-up with Thunderbolt!"

"Grovyle, stop it with Absorb!"

Grovyle shot out red beams out of its arms and they latched onto the enemy Magneton. Magneton, however, seemed unaffected and charged its body up with electricity. By making use of Grovyle's attack, it was able to send its Thunderbolt through Grovyle's Absorb and do internal damage. Grovyle released Magneton from its grip and fell to one knee.

"That Metal Sound attack, like, totally improved Grovyle's electrical current," Lisia informed May.

"What do you mean?" May asked.

"Metal Sound creates, like, an electrical field in whatever Pokémon is affected by it," Lisia explained. "Because of that, Grovyle takes more damage from Electric-type attacks."

"Grovyle!" Brendan grunted. "Wattson, you really know how to take apart my team."

"Such is the charm of Electric-type Pokémon," Wattson said. "Now Magneton, finish the job with another Thunderbolt!"

"Wait a minute..." Brendan paused to think. "Grovyle, use a Leaf Blade and attract its electricity to your blades!"

Grovyle nodded and charged up the leaves on its wrists. At the same time, Magneton let loose a powerful surge of lightning from its body. Grovyle charged at Magneton with its glowing blades in front and let the Thunderbolt latch onto them. When Grovyle reached Magneton, its blades were fully charged with electrical energy and it slashed at the Magnet Pokémon as hard as it could. There was a small explosion and Magneton was thrown to the ground.

"And that takes care of Magneton!" Lisia cheered her friend on. "One more Pokémon and Brendan can call this match over!"

"Magneton!" Wattson shouted. When the smoke cleared, he could see that Magneton was knocked out with Grovyle standing over it. He sighed and called it back to its PokéBall. "You did good, Magneton."

"Now what?" Brendan asked as his Pokémon walked back over in front of him. "I'm ready for whatever you have next."

"It seems that you are ready to face my most powerful Pokémon," Wattson mumbled and pulled a PokéBall out from his pocket. "In this PokéBall is my signature Pokémon, Manectric."

Wattson threw the PokéBall forward and Manectric was released in a powerful flash of light. It looked towards the ceiling and howled menacingly. When it brought its head back down, it glared at its Grass-type opponent.

"My Manectric is no laughing matter," Wattson warned the young trainer. "It has rarely faced defeat at the hands of a newbie trainer like you."

"Who are you calling newbie trainer?" Brendan asked defensively. "My Pokémon and I have been through a lot."

"I'll let Manectric be the judge of that," Wattson said softly. "Now Manectric, use Thunder Fang!"

Manectric roared and leapt over to Grovyle. It bit onto Brendan's Pokémon and surged a powerful electrical current through its teeth. Grovyle, feeling the shock take over its body, tried to shake Manectric off. However, this only made things worse for it.

"That doesn't look good..." May frowned from the sidelines.

"Grovyle, get it off by darting around using Quick Attack!" Brendan commanded.

Grovyle braced through the pain and sprinted around the room in a whir of green. Manectric tried its best to tighten its bite on Grovyle, but the speed of the Grass-type Pokémon eventually threw it off.

"And that's how you fight strategy with strategy," Brendan taunted. Suddenly, Grovyle fell to one knee as its body sparked up. "Grovyle, what's going on?"

"It looks like Grovyle is paralyzed!" Lisia shouted from the sidelines. "It happens a lot when you're hit by an Electric-type attack!"

"Shit," Brendan growled. "Grovyle, get up and use Leaf Blade!"

"Manectric, stop Grovyle dead in its tracks with a Thunderbolt!"

Grovyle tried its best to move, but the shocking paralysis took over its body. Manectric roared loudly and sent out its Thunderbolt straight at Brendan's Pokémon. Due to Grovyle's earlier exposure to Magneton's Metal Sound, Electric-type attacks did more damage to it. As a result, Grovyle fell to the ground in a daze and was unable to battle.

"And that takes care of Grovyle!" Lisia announced. "This leaves the battle at a one-on-one!"

"But that's not good for Brendan..." May mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Lisia asked.

"I _know _Brendan isn't going to use his Water-type Magikarp against Wattson," May said. "That means he only has one other Pokémon to use; Lairon."

"What's so bad about Lairon?" Lisia asked. Since she had only joined the group, she was curious as to why Brendan couldn't use Lairon. "Isn't Lairon supposed to be a powerful Pokémon?"

"Well, it is, but it doesn't listen to Brendan," May answered. "Hopefully, it snaps to its trainer this match."

"Wow, I hope so..." Lisia responded and looked back to Brendan.

"Come back, Grovyle!" Brendan exclaimed and returned his Pokémon back to its PokéBall. His entire body shook as he slowly pulled out Lairon's PokéBall. This Pokémon would either make or break the match for him. With a deep breath, he threw Lairon's PokéBall forward. "Lairon, I choose you! Please win this for me."

Lairon appeared out of its PokéBall and fell to the ground with a loud thud. It glared at Manectric and roared loudly. Manectric roared back in response.

"A Lairon, huh?" Wattson asked. "An interesting choice. No matter, Manectric, use Thunderbolt!"

"Lairon, use Iron Head!"

Lairon, like it usually did, just stood in one place without reacting to Brendan's commands. Manectric, on the other hand, roared and shot out a powerful wave of lightning bolts at Brendan's Pokémon. Lairon took the attack surprisingly well and continued to stare at its "opponent".

"Lairon, why didn't you do anything!?" Brendan asked in frustration. "Come on!"

"Wow, a Pokémon that won't even listen to its trainer..." Wattson chuckled. "How embarrassing!"

"Hey, it's not funny!" Brendan exclaimed. "Lairon, use another Iron Head!"

"Manectric, use Thunder Fang!"

Lairon yawned and continued to stand in one place. It couldn't care less for Brendan's silly little gym battle. Manectric, however, listened to its trainer and latched onto Lairon with its electrically charged teeth. In response, Lairon widened its eyes and roared loudly. It flailed around wildly and threw Manectric off.

"That's right, Lairon!" Brendan cheered. "Now listen to me and _use your fucking Iron Head_!"

Instead, Lairon's glare turned into a glower. It stomped one foot on the ground ferociously and glew in a blinding white light.

"Whoa..." Brendan muttered. "Lairon, you're evolving!"

The white light surrounding Lairon grew to twice Brendan's height. When the light subsided, Brendan could see a towering dragon-like Pokémon standing in Lairon's place. It stomped the ground and growled at the Pokémon that dared to bite it. There was a look of pure anger in its eyes as it would make Manectric pay for its attack.

Brendan marveled at his new monstrous Pokémon that stood in Lairon's place. The other three trainers, however, were taken back in fear.

"Lairon just evolved into Aggron!" Wattson exclaimed. "I don't believe it!"

"Uh-oh..." May commented, knowing just how badly the battle would end for Brendan. "That can't be good..."

"Aggron?" Brendan asked and pulled out his PokéDex.

"_Aggron, the Iron Armor Pokémon,_" his PokéDex started. "_Aggron is protective of its environment. If its mountain is ravaged by a landslide or a fire, this Pokémon will haul topsoil to the area, plant trees, and beautifully restore its own territory._"

"Aggron sounds super powerful!" Brendan pumped his fist. "Aggron, _now _listen to me and use that signature Iron Head attack of yours!"

Aggron instead roared loudly and charged at Manectric. It sent its fists flying at the defenseless Pokémon and slugged it to the ground. It kept on punching at Manectric even after it was clear that Manectric was knocked out.

"Manectric, come back!" Wattson shouted and called his Pokémon back in fear.

Noticing that Manectric went back to Wattson's PokéBall, Aggron ran straight for Wattson. Realizing that Aggron was out of control, Brendan held its PokéBall up in the air.

"Brendan, call that thing back!" May pleaded from the sidelines. "Quickly, before it does anything bad!"

"Aggron, come back!" Brendan exclaimed as his newly evolved Pokémon flew back to its PokéBall in a flash of red. "But... but I still won, right?"

"Brendan..." Wattson said as he attempted to catch his breath. "You may have defeated me in battle, but you were unable to win by channeling your strengths into your Pokémon. I am sorry, but as a result, I _cannot_ give you the Dynamo Badge."

"Damn it!" Brendan shouted and slammed his foot on the ground. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

"I'm sorry Brendan, but you only won because your Pokémon went wild," Wattson told him. "Maybe if you were able to control if, you would have earned the badge, but the fact that Aggron did not listen to you should be proof enough that you are not worthy of the badge."

"That's a real bummer," May said softly and approached Brendan.

"Yeah, like, a total bummer," Lisia aggeed and followed May.

"But... but I thought I almost had Aggron there..." Brendan fell to his knees. "What's it gonna take for me to prove myself to it?"

"It's, like, okay," Lisia mumbled and kneeled next to him. "If it makes you feel better, Ali didn't listen to me when I first started training her."

"Maybe if you can gain your Pokémon's trust we can have a rematch," Wattson suggested.

Before anybody could say anything else, the door suddenly opened and a black-haired woman barged into the battlefield. Brendan, May, and Lisia immediately recognized her as the mysterious trainer with Latias. She looked a lot less intimidating in person and almost like any ordinary woman in their early-twenties.

"Wattson!" She exclaimed. "There's something going on at New Mauville!"

"New Mauville?" Wattson asked. "Are you sure about that, Olivia?"

"I'm positive," Olivia nodded. "It's almost as if somebody is interfering with the generators down there."

"We're going to _have_ to go check on them, then!" Wattson stated before looking to the three trainers. "You three are free to come help us if you'd like to. The more hands we have, the more ground we can get."

"Of course!" May nodded and looked to her friends. "Come on, they need help!"

The five trainers bolted out of the Mauville Gym in an instant. If the underground grid-line of New Mauville needed their help, then that's where they would go next.


	22. New Mauville

**NEW MAUVILLE**

The five trainers sprinted across the shore of the ocean south of Mauville City as they had to get to New Mauville. If Olivia was correct about a disturbance coming from there, then the entire city of Mauville would depend on them. They had little time to discuss anything apart from introducing their names as they were focused solely on their task. They kept running non-stop until they managed to find a wide opening in a large rock just past a small grove of trees.

"Here we are!" Wattson told them as he stood with his hands on his knees in an attempt to catch his breath. "New Mauville is inside this cave."

"Let's go inside!" Brendan exclaimed and ran inside first.

"No, wait!" Olivia called out to him. Brendan stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face her. "We're going to need Wattson to go inside first. There's a security gate and it'll shock you if you try to go in without him."

"In that case," Brendan said and backed up. "I'll wait for Wattson to go in."

Wattson took a deep breath of air and stood up. He slowly walked into New Mauville, unsure of what he would run into. Usually, the only disturbances in the area were from Pokémon and they were generally minor, so it was baffling to Wattson what this disturbance might have been.

The other four followed him carefully inside the cave. Unlike the cavy exterior, the interior looked like a giant underground power plant with generators lined up on the walls. Several Pokémon such as Magnemite and Voltorb were moving around and using their powers to give an electrical charge to all of the circuits.

In the entrance was a massive electrical gate with an identification sensor to the side. Wattson stood against the sensor lights and let the lasers scan his body. Once the process was complete, the large gate powered down and opened up, allowing all five of them to enter. They all carefully followed Wattson down the dark, abandoned halls of the power plant.

"This place looks really creepy," May examined as she walked down the halls. Something about the desolate area made her feel uneasy.

"I know," Lisia agreed. "Like, really _really _creepy."

"You said this was a major disturbance, right?" Wattson asked as he turned his head towards Olivia. She nodded and continued to walk through the halls. "Hm, that must mean that something is interfering with the main generator at the end."

"The main generator?" Brendan asked. "What does that do?"

"The main generator uses the energy from the nearby seawater to power up Mauville City in its entirety," Wattson explained. "Without it, everybody in the city would lose electricity."

"Wow, no wonder it's such a big deal," Brendan nodded. If anything, he was more concerned on the fact that helping Wattson out may earn his way to the third badge.

"What was that?" Watton suddenly asked as he stopped walking. The others turned around to look at him confusedly. Realizing that they didn't understand what he was saying, held a finger up in the air to continue the silence. "I... I can hear some sort of clanging coming from the distance."

"Clanging?" Olivia asked. Slowly, her ears started to pick up on it as well. "Wait a minute... I can hear it, too!"

"So can I," May nodded. "The way it's echoing sounds like it's coming from the end of this tunnel."

"The main generator!" Wattson exclaimed and darted down the hall.

The other trainers quickly sprinted behind him through the halls as well. Despite the fact that they couldn't really see much with the darkness, they couldn't stop running. If something terrible were in fact happening, then the entire city of Mauville would be in their need.

Suddenly, Wattson was stopped again in his tracks as his PokéNav Plus began to ring. He fumbled around in his front pockets until he was able to pull it out and hold it to his ear.

"Mauville City Gym Leader Wattson speaking, who is this?" He asked into the mic. The other four just stood around him curiously. "What!? Are you serious!? But... what about the Pokémon? Okay... okay... uh-huh... gotcha. Yes, we are in New Mauville as we speak. We'll fix the problem in an instant! Yes, bah-bye."

"Who was that?" Brendan asked as soon as Wattson hung up the PokéNav.

"That was Mauville City's Nurse Joy," Wattson answered. "She said that the power went out in the entire city."

"The entire city!?" Lisia exclaimed in shock. "But if that was Nurse Joy, then that must mean..."

"The Pokémon Center has gone offline..." Wattson sighed in regret.

"That's horrible!" Brendan shouted. "There are so many innocent Pokémon and people that need our help! We have to stop this crap before anything bad happens to all of the Pokémon!"

"Correct," Wattson nodded. "There is no time to spare. Let's get down to that main generator!"

"Right," the trainers nodded in unison and sprinted down the halls.

The farther they got in the power plant, the louder the clanging was. Eventually, they could even hear the light murmuring of voices. Olivia instantly stopped running and clenched her fists.

"What's wrong?" Lisia asked and turned to face her.

"That voice..." Olivia mumbled and gritted her teeth. "I _know _that voice..."

Without saying anything else, she sprinted down the hall as fast as she could. Everybody else, realizing that this was no laughing matter, picked up on the speed and followed her down.

"There is is!" Wattson panted and continued to run. He could see the end. "The main generator!"

They managed to reach the end of the hall where the massive generator was. Olivia stood in front of them as she glared angrily at a group of people. In the darkness of the power plant, the other four trainers were unable to see who they were. However, the familiar scent of Hoenn rum pulled at Brendan's nostrils.

"It's Team Aqua!" He exclaimed.

"Bravo, child. You continue to try and foil our plans relentlessly," a familiar voice mumbled and slowly began to clap. The man behind the voice walked over to the trainers and laughed loudly. When he was at their faces, they could tell it was none other than Archie. "How did you even manage to find us here?"

"Someone like me would _know_," Olivia growled. "What do you even think you're doing here?"

"You see, our secret hideout could use a little jolt of electricity, so I thought it would be best for us to channel the power from your stupid little generator into our hideout," Archie explained with a smirk. "Who cares if a pathetic city like Mauville loses its power?"

"You're putting so many Pokémon at risk!" Brendan exclaimed and made a fist. "And for that, you'll pay a price."

"You foolish child!" Archie laughed. "You think I care about Pokémon that aren't loyal to Team Aqua?"

"You're a monster..." Lisia gritted her teeth. "I hope you know that..."

"Oh, trust me when I say I know that," Archie chuckled and slowly walked back over to his group of loyal Grunts. "And besides, how do you plan on saving the city when you don't even know how to turn off my alternate power source?"

"I'll make sure you pay for this dearly," Wattson warned him. "You can't possibly expect to get away with this crime."

"I already have," Archie laughed maniacally. "Just try and stop me!"

"You'd better believe that I will!" Olivia shouted and pulled a PokéBall from her handbag.

"I'll help you out," Brendan told her and pulled out a PokéBall as well.

"Thank you," Olivia said and glanced in his direction. She looked over to Lisia, May, and Wattson. "You three go with Wattson and destroy his alternate power source. Brendan and I will focus on Team Aqua."

The three of them nodded and ran down a narrow corridor next to the main generator.

"Grunts, seize them!" Archie commanded his subordinates as they chased the trio down.

"Let's do this," Olivia said and looked to Brendan.

"Right," Brendan nodded and threw his PokéBall forward. "Grovyle, I choose you!"

"Latias, teach Archie a lesson for us!"

Both Pokémon emerged from their PokéBalls in front of their trainers. Latias cried loudly and looked Archie dead in the eyes as if the leader of Team Aqua had personally done something wrong to harm her. What Brendan couldn't see on TV, however, was that Latias had a metal collar around her neck with a gemstone in the center. Brendan looked back to Olivia and saw that she had a smaller version of the gem stone wrapped around her neck on the base of a necklace. Brendan had to admit that the legendary Pokémon was even more majestic in person.

Grovyle, on the other hand, fell to one knee and sparked up in paralysis as it was sent out of its PokéBall. After hissing in pain for a bit, it fell to the ground lifelessly. Olivia just glared towards Brendan in response.

"Oh shit, that's right!" Brendan slapped his hand to his face. "I didn't have time to use a Pokémon Center!"

"Use this," Olivia told him and pulled out a spray bottle from her handbag. She tossed it to him.

"What's this?"

"It's a Full Restore," Olivia explained. "Spray it on Grovyle quickly and your Pokémon will be as good as new!"

"Gotcha," Brendan nodded and ran over to his Pokémon. He squirted the liquid on it a few times until it was finally able to stand up and stretch itself. "There, now you're feelin' all better."

"What a pathetic choice for a Pokémon," Archie shook his head as he observed Grovyle. He pulled out two PokéBalls from the pirate belt that held his outfit together. "Crawdaunt, Feraligatr, run these two out of here!"

Archie swung both his arms forward as PokéBalls flew out of them. Due to his massive arm size, it was hard to tell he was even sending Pokémon out. The two Pokémon emerged from their PokéBalls and gave Brendan and Olivia evil glared. Feraligatr even began growling to itself.

"So I'm guessing that's what May's Corphish will end up evolving into..." Brendan mumbled and looked towards Crawdaunt, who was a little more than half his height.

"Latias, use Mist Ball!" Olivia commanded, getting straight into the battle.

"Crawdaunt, take Latias out with Night Slash!" Archie commanded angrily and looked to the Eon Pokémon. Grovyle was just a distraction from his main enemy Pokémon. "Feraligatr, get rid of this pesky Grovyle with Ice Beam!"

"Grovyle, get out of the way with Quick Attack and then combine it with Leaf Blade to take Feraligatr out!"

Crawdaunt and Feraligatr glanced at each other and nodded slowly. On cue, they both sent their attacks towards Latias and Grovyle. Crawdaunt blackened its pincers and swung at Latias, but the legendary Pokémon was able to levitate out of the way. Latias created an orb of mist out of her mouth and shot it at straight at Crawdaunt. Despite Crawdaunt's hybrid Dark-typing, Latias's attack still hit hard as a cloud of mist surrounded the Rogue Pokémon.

Feraligatr, on the other hand, fired a beam of shocking cold air at Grovyle. As per Brendan's commands, Grovyle bolted out of the way and charged its blades up. After Feraligatr released the entirety of its attack out, Grovyle instantly switched direction and ran at it hard in combination with its Leaf Blade attack. Feraligatr fell to one knee and tried to shake off Grovyle's surprisingly powerful hit.

"That's for calling Grovyle a pathetic Pokémon!" Brendan shouted with deep anger burning in his eyes. "Grovyle, show Feraligatr what you can do with another Leaf Blade!"

"Stop it dead in its tracks with Ice Beam!"

Grovyle hissed and charged up its wrist blades again. At the same time, Feraligatr created a wave of cold energy in its mouth and fired the icy shock waves at the Grass-type Pokémon. Grovyle bolted towards Feraligatr but was halted as it felt the air around its body drop significantly in temperature. Before anybody knew it, Grovyle was frozen in a giant block of ice.

"Grovyle!" Brendan cried out. "No!"

"Now what are you going to do?" Archie laughed and taunted the teenager.

Meanwhile, May, Wattson, and Lisia had been running down the narrow corridor looking for anything that could be leeching off of the generator's circuits. Eventually, May, who was in the back of the group, stopped both Wattson and Lisia by tugging on their shoulders. They both stopped as well and turned to her.

"Like, what's the matter?" Lisia asked.

"Look!" May exclaimed and pointed to the side wall. Wattson and Lisia looked to see a blue circuit box planted on the wall with Team Aqua's signature 'A' plastered on it. "Something tells me that this is what Team Aqua put here to steal power from the generator."

"It looks like you're right..." Wattson mumbled and examined the circuit box.

"Stop right where you are!" A Team Aqua grunt shouted to the three of them. The other four Grunts were close behind him.

"They, like, caught up to us!" Lisia exclaimed.

"You two give me ground!" Wattson instructed the two teenagers and began to pry open the circuit box. "I'll work on this little device."

"Let's do this," May nodded and stepped forward alongside her friend. She pulled out a PokéBall and threw it forward. "Corphish, I choose you!"

"Let's go Stagley!" Lisia exclaimed and threw her PokéBall forward.

Corphish and Stagley, a Pinsir, materialized from their PokéBalls and growled at the Team Aqua Grunts. All five of the Grunts nodded and threw their PokéBalls forward as well. From each and every PokéBall emerged a small Poochyena.

"These things are, like, soooo annoying," Lisia groaned. "Stagley, like, take them out one-by-one with X-Scissor!"

"Corphish, try and give her backup with a Bubblebeam!"

Stagley's pincers glew a bright green and it went through each Poochyena cutting and slashing as much as it could. Corphish stood behind the larger Pokémon and fired a rapid chain of bubbles at each Poochyena. All of the Grunts shouted random commands at their Pokémon and they all bolted towards Corphish and Stagley.

"Stagley, you're more powerful than them!" Lisia encouraged her Pinsir. "Keep at it with X-Scissor!"

"Corphish, don't give up on Bubblebeam!"

Before any of the Poochyena could reach Wattson, Stagley continued to hack at them with its glowing pincers. Corphish trotted behind Lisia's Bug-type and fired its Bubblebeam attack as if it were a machine gun. In no time, all five of the weak Poochyena were sprawled out on the ground, unable to battle.

"Damn it!" One of the Grunts shouted.

"Oh, come on!" Another Grunt added in.

"Let's get out of here!" The first grunt told them and ran back down the corridor from where they came from.

"I've finished the job!" Wattson suddenly exclaimed and ripped the circuit box off the wall. Both the girls sighed in relief when they realized that everything was back to normal again.

"Let's get back to Brendan and Olivia," May told them.

Back over in the double battle, Brendan looked at his frozen Pokémon regretfully. Battling the leader of Team Aqua was obviously no laughing matter, but he didn't think it would end like that. He knew his Grovyle could get out of the ice block, it would just take patience and effort.

"Latias, give Grovyle time to thaw out by shocking Feraligatr with a Thunderbolt!" Olivia commanded. "And make it _hurt_."

Latias glowered at the foe Feraligatr and let out an angry cry. She charged her body with volts of electricity and sent them out wildly at the Pokémon that froze Grovyle. Feraligatr, unable to react in time, felt the shock surge through its body and fell to the ground in pain. When the attack ended, Latias couldn't help but smirk at the damage she had done.

"Feraligatr! Get back up!" Archie pleaded. "Crawdaunt, help it out with Dark Pulse!"

As Feraligatr tried to prop itself up after Latias's attack, Crawdaunt gave it some help by firing an array of dark matter at Latias. The Eon Pokémon was swallowed up by the Dark-type attack and fell to the ground. Finally, Feraligatr was able to stand up strong again.

"Ah, look at how I single handedly took you two apart," Archie laughed and looked at both opposing Pokémon; Latias sprawled on the ground and Grovyle trapped in the ice. "I think it's me that will be winning this one."

"Hey Archie!" Olivia called out to him and clutched the gem on her necklace. "Think again, scum."

Olivia's necklace began to glow with all of the colors of the rainbow as its energy began to flow to Latias. Suddenly, a stream of lights surrounded the two as Latias was lifted into the air and enveloped in a pink orb. The orb grew and grew in size until there was a roar from within and it exploded. From the orb emerged a more powerful version of Latias with pure anger in its eyes.

"You... you Mega Evolved a legendary Pokémon!?" Archie exclaimed wildly.

"So _that's _Mega Evolution..." Brendan mumbled in awe.

"Latias, finish Archie's Pokémon off with the most powerful Thunderbolt you can make!" Olivia shouted at the top of her lungs.

Mega Latias let out a powerful roar which echoed through the power plant and sent a crazed strike of lightning out of its body. The strike hit both Crawdaunt and Feraligatr as they were both held in place due to shock. At the same time, Grovyle managed to thaw out of its frozen encasing.

"Yes!" Brendan pumped his fist. "Grovyle, get 'em both with Leaf Blade!"

"Latias, release your energy before Grovyle can make contact with them and use full force when it's done!"

Grovyle charged the leaves on its wrists as they turned into blades. It hissed in anger and bolted towards Feraligatr first. Mega Latias let go of its lightning grip on the Pokémon and Grovyle slashed at it repeatedly. When Grovyle had enough, it moved onto Crawdaunt and did the same. After the energy in Grovyle's blades subsided, Mega Latias supercharged its Thunderbolt attack on both Pokémon, creating a small explosion within the chamber.

"Crawdaunt! Feraligatr!" Archie shouted out.

The smoke from the explosion blew past all of the trainers and they clutched their eyes in order to protect them. After a few seconds, the smoke finally cleared and May, Lisia, Wattson, and the Aqua Grunts appeared in the chamber. All four Pokémon stayed in their places and waited for one to makes its move. All of the trainers in the room stood silently in anticipation over who would fall first. Eventually, Crawdaunt fell to the ground with Feraligatr following shortly after.

"No!" Archie growled and fell to his knees. "This can't be! The great Archie _cannot _lose!"

"Well, you just did," Olivia stated sternly. "Now get out of here!"

"Okay..." Archie whimpered and called both of his Pokémon back to their PokéBalls. He slowly started to rise from his place. "But I must warn you..."

"Leave _now_!" Olivia reiterated. Mega Latias even hovered next to her to show her support for her trainer.

"Okay, okay!" Archie raised his arms defensively and bolted out of the chamber. His Grunts tailed him closely behind.

Suddenly, Wattson's PokéNav began to ring with a call. He instantly pulled it out of his pocket and held it to his ear.

"Mauville City Gym Leader Wattson speaking," he said into the mic. "Yes... yes... okay... yes... that's wonderful! Yes, bah-bye!"

"What was that about?" Brendan asked when the gym leader hung up.

"That was Nurse Joy!" The man exclaimed. "The power is back in the city and the Pokémon Center is up and running again!"

"Phew..." all of the trainers collectively sighed.

"Thanks for your help, Brendan," Olivia said and looked to the Pokémon trainer.

"No, thanks for helping me out," Brendan replied as his Grovyle walked over to him. "Grovyle really needed your help there."

"I can tell you'll be a great trainer some day."

"And when that day comes, I'll challenge you to a battle," Brendan stated.

"I hope that day comes soon, then."

"Now can we _puh-lease _get out of here?" May asked out of nowhere. "This place is really creeping me out."

* * *

><p><em>Small authors note: First, I'm pretty sure you can tell where in the anime I got the inspiration for this chapter from!<em>

_Additionally, I will be going on vacation in a few days (I don't know exactly when, lol) and I will be gone for a week or so, so if you don't see updates in a while, that's why._

_Anyways, if you read and enjoyed (or hated) the chapter, don't forget to review it! I love all of your feedback!_


	23. Lisia the Mediator

**ROUTE 117**

After saving New Mauville from certain destruction, all of the trainers headed back to Mauville. Wattson headed back to the gym, Olivia said she wanted to challenge Lavaridge Town's gym leader, and the trio wanted to spend the rest of the day shopping and exploring whatever was they hadn't previously seen in Mauville City. Even though Brendan wanted to re-challenge Wattson to a gym battle, he knew that he would still get his ass kicked even if he tried. It would be best to spend some time training his Pokémon some more in order to help them fight Electric-types.

Eventually when the sun fell over the horizon and the moon took residence in the sky, they decided it would be best for them to make an overnight trip to Verdanturf Town. The Pokémon Contest in the town would be taking place soon and May and Lisia needed to be there on time. Brendan figured that it would also be a good time for him to help Wally train his Pokémon. If the trainer that Wattson spoke of was in fact him, then he would need all the guidance he could get.

The journey to Verdanturf Town required crossing through the flowery and aromatic Route 117. It was a straight road from the west of Mauville City that was popular with tourists for its vivid and romantic scenery. The rainbow assortment of flowers was lined up so neatly on the sides of the dirt road that it was almost as if the PokéGods themselves made the route for the sole purpose of dates.

"Whoa, this looks amazing," May marveled and looked at the moonlit scenery around her. "Why haven't I been here before?"

"Well, for starters, no one would want to take _you _on a date," Brendan sniggered.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what it sounds like it means."

"Brendan!"

"Sorry, I just like being honest."

"This is coming from the person who can't win a battle without having to rely on someone else."

"May!"

"Sorry, _I just like being honest,_" May hissed, emphasizing her words.

"Yeah, well you're ugly."

"Brendan!"

"Hey, we can both play this 'honesty' game."

"You're the one who brought it up!"

"Well, you're the one who milked the shit out of it."

"Guys, like, stop!" Lisia pleaded the two, sensing the swelling irritation between them. "Let's just make it to Verdanturf in one piece, please?"

"First tell Brendan to stop making smart-ass comments," May said and turned her head away from the group with her eyes closed.

"No, tell her to stop being such an idiot," Brendan grunted and turned his head in the other directino.

"You know, you two are probably, like, tired from all of today's events," Lisia told them.

"If 'tired' is the word you want to use," May huffed and crossed her arms.

"Come on, how about we, like, set up camp or something?" Lisia suggested. "Maybe that way we can get a good night's sleep and wake up nice and fresh in the morning. How does that sound?"

Lisia's attempt to patch them up was met with no avail as they continued to walk down the road without looking at each other. Even though Lisia knew that their hate was only temporary, it still bothered her to know that they were completely willing to go in separate directions if they had to. The last thing she wanted was to be groggy and upset at her Pokémon Contest.

"You know what?" Lisia eventually opened her mouth. "We're going to stop here and set up camp whether you two like it or not."

"Well, I'm not sleeping in the same tent as May."

"You're crazy if you think I'll spend my night in the same tent as Brendan."

"Be friends with each other, goddammit!" Lisia shouted and pulled the two trainers together. Unfortunately, some superficial magnetic force easily pulled the two apart again. "You two are driving me insane..."

They continued walking down the road silently. Lisia was puzzled as to how these two trainers could walk down such a beautiful road while being angry with each other. If anything, the flowers should have been enough to soothe their tempers. Their inability to cooperate with one another was something Lisia had never seen before.

"Actually, I think I'm going to stop and camp here _by myself_," Brendan suddenly stopped and stated. He sat on the grounded stubbornly. "You can go on ahead and do whatever you want, May. And Lisia, you're free to join me, but you're not going to be my friend if you stick with May."

"Good," May smirked and continued to walk without missing a beat. "I'll just camp somewhere else down the road."

"Guys..." Lisia stopped and stood in between the two of them. She glanced back and forth between the two "friends" as they got farther and farther away from each other.

Eventually, May had walked so far down the distance that Lisia couldn't even spot her. She tried to walk after her, but when she turned back around, she realized that she had walked far enough to lose Brendan as well. She pressed hard onto her temples and sighed loudly.

"I can't believe these two are fighting like this..."

When Brendan was left by himself, he walked over to a small clearing in the flowers to see if he could set up camp. Since Lisia had the tent with her (she was the traveling contest star), Brendan would have to find another way to make some shelter for the night. He figured that he could chop down some trees with his Pokémon and then cover everything up with foliage. That way, he could make a nice little shed for the night.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his four PokéBalls. After giving it a little bit of thought, he threw all of the PokéBalls forward. Grovyle, Whismur, Aggron, and Magikarp emerged from them. Aggron looked towards Brendan with an angry glare and roared as loudly as it could. Brendan realized his mistake and quickly called it back to its PokéBall.

"Yeah, maybe I shouldn't let you out..." Brendan sighed and put Aggron's PokéBall back onto his belt. He looked at Magikarp flopping around helplessly and called it back as well. "Okay, I don't think you can do much, either."

This left Grovyle and Whismur as the two Pokémon that could give him some help.

"Alright, guys, I'm gonna need you two to help make me a little place to sleep in tonight," Brendan instructed his Pokémon. Grovyle and Whismur scratched their heads and looked at each other in confusion. "Okay, what I mean by that is that I want Grovyle to cut down some trees and logs to make a structure and I want Whismur to rip off some leaves and flowers to make bedding. Does that make sense?"

Both Pokémon nodded slowly and ran into the edge of the neighboring woods to do what Brendan asked them to do. Brendan followed Whismur since he figured the smaller Pokémon would most likely need his help to fix things up.

Over in May's own campsite, she had Combusken and Nincada out to do the same thing. However, her Fire Pokémon gave her an advantage in burning some firewood to keep her warm through the night air's cool breeze. Both of her Pokémon were busy at work with Combusken getting lumber for shelter and Nincada getting leaves and flowers for bedding and covers.

"See, aren't we so much more efficient that stupid Brendan and his Pokémon?" May asked her two Pokémon with a wide grin.

Her Pokémon nodded in unison and continued with their work. May was sure that her hardworking Pokémon would be able to build her a place to spend the night in faster than Brendan and his Pokémon would. After all, her Pokémon were far superior in every aspect than his were. At a time like this, such was an undeniable fact to her.

Lisia, being isolated by the two's sudden change in behavior, didn't know what to do. She wanted to find a good place to set up the tent she always brought in her cloudy blue backpack, but it would be selfish of her to give up on her two friends like that. She knew that deep down they cared about each other and that they were just too preoccupied in their own pride to show it.

Lisia sighed and pulled out two PokéBalls from the fluffy belt holding her blue skirt up. She figured that if she were alone for the time being, it would be a good time to let her Pokémon out and get some fresh breaths of Hoenn's clean air. She tossed her PokéBalls in the air and the two Pokémon, a gleeful Togekiss and a large Electivire, took form in front of her.

"Alright Pixie, I figured you'd like this flower field," she said to her Togekiss and petted it softly on the head. She turned to her Electivire and did the same to it. "And Ellie, you could really be some good protection out here in the wilderness."

Suddenly, a thought found its way into Lisia's head. If she wanted Brendan and May to reconcile, she would have to force it. She knew that Brendan and May cared for each other deep inside, but they were too prideful in their own situations to show it. In order to bring them back together, she would have to play the villain.

"Hey Ellie, come over here," she whispered and gestured for her Electivire to come forward.

Back at Brendan's campsite, his Pokémon weren't able to get the shed going as planned. Grovyle's chops were too wild to get an even shaped log and Whismur's hands were too small for it to be able to work quickly. Brendan didn't want to admit it, but there was no way he'd be able to set up camp. He knew his Pokémon tried their best to help him, so it didn't bother him as much as it usually would.

However, something felt extremely wrong with him. He wanted to blame it on the fact that he didn't know where he would sleep for the night, but no matter how hard he thought, that wasn't the reason why. His mind raced at the possibilities, until one thing glared in his brain. He didn't want to admit it, but he was _worried about May_.

"No, that can't be possible..." he mumbled to himself, earning him confused looks from his Pokémon. When Brendan didn't reply to them, they shrugged and continued doing their work.

Even though Brendan just had a major spat with her, she was still his friend. They had spent so long traveling the region together and here they were, separated from each other. Added into that, Brendan had never seen May fend for herself before. He didn't know whether she had the wilderness survival skills to be able to keep herself safe at night. She was terrified of little Bug-type Pokémon, for Pete's sake!

"Brendan!" Lisia's voice called out from the distance. Brendan and his Pokémon turned to see the contest star running with her Pixie. "Brendan! May's in trouble!"

"Huh?" Brendan asked, trying to keep his cool. While he put on a straight face for display, he was terrified on the inside. "What are you talking about?"

"A giant Electivire is attacking her!" Lisia exclaimed. "She needs your help!"

"But... but..." Brendan tried to protest, but he couldn't muster the strength to talk back. He took a deep breath and swallowed his pride. "We have to help her, then!"

Without a second thought, Brendan took off running in the distance with Grovyle and Whismur on his tail. Lisia smirked at his instant reaction and chased after him along with Pixie. Brendan kept running and running down the road until he heard May's voice screaming from the distance.

"Oh my gosh, let me go!" She screamed. Brendan could see that Ellie held May high in the air while Combusken and Nincada were busy scratching at it to no avail. "LET ME GO! Combusken, do something! Nincada, do something!"

"May, don't worry!" Brendan shouted, feral instincts running through his body. "I'll save you! Grovyle, use Leaf Blade! Whismur, use Pound!"

Grovyle and Whismur both nodded and lunged at Ellie. Ellie, as powerful as she was, couldn't hold off four Pokémon relentlessly attacking her. Figuring Lisia would tell her to let May down soon anyways, she dropped the trainer and walked away.

"May!" Brendan exclaimed and picked her up off the floor. Without thinking he hugged her tightly.

"Umm..." she responded, her cheeks a bright red. Despite what had just happened earlier, Brendan's warmth was comforting and protective. However, she still had to show some level of pride to put her over him. "You're... uhh... squeezing me..."

"Yeah..." Brendan quickly let her go and scratched the back of his head. "So... uhh... are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," May sighed. "I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you earlier."

"Don't be," Brendan told her. "I shouldn't have been so snarky to you."

"So we're good?"

"Of course we're good," Brendan smiled.

"Now I suggest you both get in the tent or else," Lisia voice warned from behind them. They both turned around to see her standing by a large tent she conveniently set up while they were fending off the Electivire. "And by the way, Ellie really didn't like how you were beating up on her."

"Ellie...?" Brendan asked quietly and saw the Electivire walk calmly over to Lisia. It sat on the ground and nudged her head into her trainer for some petting. "You mean that thing... is your Pokémon!?"

"Yup," Lisia nodded and rubbed Ellie's head affectionately. "You guys were being dumb so I thought I'd have to take things into my own hands. Also, sorry to interrupt the love fest, but we have a contest to attend tomorrow and I don't wanna be late."

"Love fest!?" Brendan and May asked in unison as they each took a giant step away from each other. Their cheeks turned rosy red as they looked awkwardly at each other.

"That's gotta be a joke," Brendan crossed his arms nervously.

"Yeah, that's one thing we can both agree on," May nodded in an odd tempo.

"Whatever, I _know _that both of you enjoyed that hug," Lisia chuckled and unzipped the front door of her tent. "Anyways, get inside the tent before I have Ellie shock you all!"

* * *

><p><em>Thanks for reading! Anyways, like I said in the previous chapter, I'm going to be going on vacation in about a day or two for a week (yeah, I don't know the exact day I'm leaving, lol). I should <span><strong>hopefully<strong>have one more chapter uploaded by then, but I'm not going to promise anything in case something comes up. Be sure to leave a review if you enjoyed it (or not)!_


	24. A Flowery Encounter

**VERDANTURF TOWN**

It was early in the morning and Wally sat at a small table outside of a small sandwich shop in his uncle's hometown by himself. He slowly munched on his food as he was deep in thought. Part of having asthma meant that being outside with Pokémon pollen floating around everywhere for a long time was a big no-no. As a result, he loved coming to Verdanturf Town as it had arguably the cleanest air in all of Hoenn.

Due to his embarrassing loss at the hands of Wattson, his uncle made him come back to his house to stay. His parents were very worried about him and were not at all comfortable with the fact that he was out training Pokémon in the big, dangerous world. Despite his vocal protests of being strong enough as a trainer, he was not able to convince them that him and Kirlia were fit for adventure.

He felt that if he were to find some Pokémon out in the wild that wanted to travel with him, he would have all the tools to build a good team. However, he still wasn't confident enough to go out and seek Pokémon. Even though he had managed to make it through a large part of the Hoenn Region with just himself and his Kirlia, he had only skirted around the parts where wild Pokémon dwelled. He was much too afraid of running into a powerful Pokémon that would have him for lunch.

Feeling lonely, he let his sole Pokémon out of its PokéBall. Kirlia came out of it in a flash of white and took the empty seat across from its trainer. Knowing that his Pokémon would be a little bit hungry, he offered a small piece of his sandwich to it.

"Here you go, Kirlia," Wally said softly. His Pokémon smiled and gobbled up the piece of human food. "Did it taste good?"

His Pokémon smiled happy and swallowed its piece.

"Well, I'm glad you like it," Wally smiled and continued to eat his sandwich. "Thanks for helping me out on my journey."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help but asking, but are you Wally?" An older teenager with black hair asked him and approached the table. Wally turned around and looked up at the trainer.

"Um... yeah... who are you?" He asked timidly, his nervous eyes meeting the other trainer's fierce, competitive eyes.

"My name is Ray," the trainer answered and offered his hand.

"Oh, okay..." Wally replied quietly and nervously looked at Ray's open hand. It took a few seconds to realize he was asking for a handshake and he slowly returned the gesture. "H-how do you know me?"

"Well, Mauville's gym leader Wattson told me all about you," Ray chuckled. "To put it nicely, he told me he 'curb stomped' you."

"Curb stomped doesn't even begin to describe how badly I lost..." Wally replied sadly and looked at his food.

"He said that you needed to have a team of Pokémon if you wanted to challenge more gym leaders."

"And he sent you?"

"No, not really," Ray shook his head. "I just happened to find you sitting here. However, I'm not too shabby at catching Pokémon, myself."

"So what do you want from me?" Wally asked and looked back over to Ray.

"I don't want anything from you," Ray told him. "I want to help you build a team. You seem to be more than capable of training Pokémon and I want you to put your skills to good use."

"You... you want to help me catch a Pokémon?" Wally asked with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"If that's how you want to phrase it," Ray shrugged. He looked curiously over to the Kirlia sitting across from Wally. "Is that your Pokémon?"

"Y-yes... that's my Kirlia," Wally nodded slowly. "It's my first and only Pokémon."

"Why don't you come with me?" Ray asked the younger trainer and helped him up from his seat. "Let's get you a better team."

**ROUTE 117**

Ray took Wally out into the flowery paths of Route 117. Part of catching a Pokémon meant going out into the routes and making the first move in order to cause one to attack. Since Wally had never done anything like it before, he was nothing short of terrified. Even though Ray kept on assuring Wally of his trust, Wally couldn't help but feel a little worried that something beyond their control would come up.

If anything were to happen to him, he wasn't sure what his parents would do. They were always so worried about where he was and how he was doing that they ended up always expecting the worst. It would be a shame for their terrible expectations to become a reality.

Ray took him to an area in the route bordering the forest where the flowers towered the two of them in height. He said that most Pokémon liked to live in seclusion and that it would take some time and searching for one to actually appear. The good thing was that Wally knew most Pokémon in Route 117 were friendly due to the fact that it was such a popular tourist spot. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?

"Well, wild Pokémon in this route usually hide out in these tall flowers," Ray told him and pushed his way into some flowers. "I'm sure we should be able to find some here."

"What kind of Pokémon live here?" Wally asked and took a look around. "I can't seem to find anything."

"I've never been out exploring this place, but I'd imagine a good amount of Grass-type Pokémon live here. Do you like Grass-types?"

"Well, I'm not too familiar with them," Wally answered with a shrug. "But if one will help me win a gym badge then I'll gladly take it."

"Good answer," Ray smiled lightly.

They kept creeping through the bushes until they heard a bit of rustling. Being the cautious trainer that he was, Wally cowered behind the older trainer. If anything, he expected Ray to give him some good backup in battle. After all, he had gone through his entire travels without ever encountering a single hostile wild Pokémon.

"Do you hear that?" Ray asked and stopped moving forward. "It sounds like there's a Pokémon nearby."

"A... a Pokémon?" Wally's face flushed completely. "You mean, like, a wild Pokémon? Like, a Pokémon that lives in the wild? Like... like... like a Pokémon that won't be happy to see us?"

"I hope so," Ray answered.

"Uhh..." Wally looked at the older trainer blankly. He was afraid Ray would say that.

Wally nervously followed him deeper and deeper into the thick bed of flowers where the rustling came from. As they got closer to it, they could hear sort humming behind the rustling. Even though Wally wanted it to just be another person, he knew it was a Pokémon.

And that scared him.

Suddenly, something began to vibrate in Ray's back pocket. He quickly pulled out a maroon PokéNav and waited for the start screen to boot up.

"What's going on?" Wally asked, trying to peer over Ray's shoulder at the PokéNav.

"My PokéNav's DexNav is picking up signs of a Pokémon..." Ray answered while carefully studying the data appearing on the screen. "It says here that we're not close enough to pick up on its species, but it has high potential. It says here that its detecting signs of its ability being Poison Point and it knowing the attack Mega Drain."

"M-mega Drain?" Wally asked in his signature nervous tone.

"Yes, Mega Drain," Ray nodded in affirmation. "That's precisely what it says here."

"I'm not so sure I like the sound of that attack's name..."

Ray didn't respond and instead went as close to the humming as he could. When he pulled the last strand of flowers out of the way, the two of them could see that a small green Pokémon with thorns on its head and flowers for hands stood in the clearing. It was instantly taken back by their presence and stood in front of them in a defensive stance.

"Ack!" Wally shouted in fear. "It's a wild Pokémon!"

"And a Roselia, too!" Ray exclaimed in excitement. "You can't find this little Pokémon anywhere else in the Hoenn Region!"

"Should... should I battle it?" Wally asked and carefully pulled out Kirlia's PokéBall from his belt.

"Definitely," Ray nodded and stood behind him. "Studies show that Roselia has a secondary Poison-typing. Your Kirlia's Psychic-typing should give you a little bit of an edge if things get out of hand."

"Gotcha," Wally nodded and flung Kirlia's PokéBall forward. "Kirlia, you're up!"

Kirlia emerged from its PokéBall and stood in between its trainer and Roselia. It looked at the Grass Pokémon which appeared to be half its size with a harsh glare.

"Alright Kirlia, use Confusion!" Wally commanded his Pokémon.

Kirlia surrounded itself in a blue aura and sent its attack of brainwaves at the wild Pokémon. Roselia could feel the attack manifesting in its body's toxins and wilted onto one knee. The main Psychic advantage over Poison was that the energy from a Psyhcic-type attack could turn a Poison-type Pokémon's natural body toxins against it. As a result, Kirlia would be able to control Roselia's toxins and use it to its advantage.

Roselia growled in a sing-song voice and braced through the attack. It got up and looked towards Wally's Pokémon. It stuck out its right hand, the red flower, towards it. A green outline formed around it as a beam of nature-powered energy latched onto Kirlia.

"That's Mega Drain!" Ray commented.

"What's it doing?" Wally asked nervously when he saw a look of struggle on Kirlia's face.

"Mega Drain is a dangerous attack that absorbs life energy from whatever Pokémon is hit by it," Ray explained. "It's using Kirlia's life energy to recharge itself."

"Is there any way to knock it off?"

"Since Kirlia is a Psychic-type Pokémon, I'm sure there's a way to redirect it off," Ray shrugged. "I just don't know what that way is."

Wally groaned and thought about his next move. If he didn't act quickly, Kirlia would be knocked out and Roselia would get away. However, he couldn't act quickly as he couldn't really think of anything to do. He would have to use Roselia's advantage against it.

"I got it!" Wally snapped his fingers with a smile. "Kirlia, redirect Mega Drain's energy into a Magical Leaf attack!"

Kirlia nodded and let Roselia's Mega Drain attack damage it. It felt a harmony balance itself within its mind as the green energy slowly started to spin around it. Kirlia used its powerful mind to turn Roselia's attack into a swarm of glowing rainbow leaves. It pointed forward and the glowing leaves flew forward and into the wild Pokémon. Roselia grunted and once again fell to its knee.

"Good strategy, Wally!" Ray cheered. "Since it's only a wild Pokémon, I wouldn't advise trying to hurt it too much. Just get it where it's weak and throw a PokéBall when you feel ready."

"Alright," Wally nodded confidently. "Kirlia, use another Confusion!"

Kirlia closed its eyes and once again formed the light blue aura around itself. It loosed its mind energy towards Roselia and overtook the Pokémon's body systems again. Roselia fell to both knees in pain and tried to hold itself up with its flower hands.

"Now's your chance!" Ray told him. "Catch it while it's weak!"

"Then that's what I'll do!" Wally shouted and took a deep breath. He pulled an empty PokéBall out from his backpack and threw it forwards. "PokéBall, go!"

Wally's PokéBall hit Roselia while Kirlia's attack was still going on and swallowed up the Grass-type Pokémon. The PokéBall fell to the ground and began to shake rapidly. Wally, Ray, and Kirlia looked intently at the PokéBall as its shaking finally came to a halt with a loud click.

At the sound of the click, Wally finally felt like a true Pokémon trainer. Even though he had technically captured Kirlia as a Ralts from the wild, it didn't feel as real because the Pokémon didn't respond to his presence with an attack. With Roselia, however, he felt like he had really come out of his comfort zone to encounter a Pokémon. He gave it a good battle and eventually showed it his true power, earning its trust as a new member of his team.

Wally sighed and walked over to pick the PokéBall up.

"Good job," Ray said and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "How did that feel?"

"Exhilarating," Wally answered and looked at the PokéBall in his hands. "There was such a rush!"

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Not at all," Wally smiled. He strapped Roselia's PokéBall onto his belt. Kirlia walked over and stood next to him. "Now that I have two Pokémon, I can start to build myself a team."

"I'd recommend building an all-rounder team which balances itself out."

"What do you mean?" Wally asked.

"A novice trainer like you should really capture Pokémon of different types," Ray explained. "It helps you get a good feel for different strengths and abilities. Afterwards, you can give yourself a little bit of a 'signature theme'."

"That sounds like a plan," Wally nodded and looked towards his Kirlia. "What do you say we become the best team in the world?"

Kirlia nodded with a smile and looked up at Wally.

"Awesome!"

**BRENDAN'S DREAMS**

_Brendan opened his eyes to find himself lying on a beachy island. There seemed to be nothing on the island but hot sand and small waves rolling on the shoreline. Brendan could see that there was nothing but the blue ocean on the horizon. Even though he wanted to go back to sleep, the sunlight was intense and made it hard for him to do so._

_He slowly got up and blocked the sunlight out of his eyes with his hands. Realizing there was nowhere to go and nothing to do, he peacefully walked on the shoreline. Thankfully, he had dreamt up his shoes so the scorching sand wouldn't burn at his toes. He figured that the best way to spend his time was to take a walk and see what hidden things were on the island._

_As time passed, Brendan could feel the sun's heat begin to beat down on him. The rays became so powerful that they even went through the shade created by his hands and into his eyes._

_"What the hell is this kind of heat?" Brendan asked himself. "And why does it have to be so hot?"_

_Very rapidly, however, the sun's heat began to decline. Brendan could see that large black clouds began to form in the sky and block the sunlight out. There were a few flashes of lightning and a few beats of thunder before the sky opened up in a massive downpour. The sand on the island quickly turned into a soft, mushy mess._

_"Not again..." Brendan groaned at the realization that this was another one of Darkrai's nightmares._

_The island began to shake and collapse in itself as a giant hole filled with water appeared in the middle. The muddy sand that Brendan stood on rapidly began to harden into rock as the rain kept pouring._

_"Come at me wherever you are!" Brendan shouted towards the sky, hoping to attract Darkrai's attention._

_Out of the hole in the center of the island emerged a large rock with the giant red legendary Pokémon on it. It looked at Brendan with glowing yellow eyes and roared with a powerful ferocity. Behind him there was a high pitched shriek as he could see the blue legendary Pokémon had emerged from the deep ocean. Both Pokémon looked at each other intently and waited for its enemy's move._

_"So you two are gonna fight here, huh?" Brendan asked and looked back and forth between them. "Good thing this is only in my head."_

_Before either of the Pokémon could launch an attack on the other, a powerful roar echoed through the skies. From the thick clouds emerged a green serpentine Pokémon with glowing yellow streamers protruding from its body. It practically ignored Brendan as it looked to both Pokémon and roared once again._

_"The fate of the Hoenn Region rests in your hands, young trainer..." a booming voice sounded from the distance. "Your actions will directly impact the survival of your people."_

_"What does that mean?" Brendan asked and looked to the sky, ignoring the three large Pokémon around him._

_"In time you will find out..."_

_"In time?" Brendan asked. "But when's that gonna be? You can't just throw me here and expect me to figure things out myself!"_

_There was no response to Brendan's words as the green Pokémon in the sky looked towards him. It charged up a powerful wave of energy in its mouth and fired it at him. Before the attack could land, however, everything went black._

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong>I'm back from my vacation! I'm so sorry I wasn't able to get this chapter out before I left because it was just so freaking hard to write, but here it is anyways! It wasn't my favorite to write out, but I felt like giving Wally a good amount of character development was required. They just throw him in the game with a Ralts and at the end he appears with a team of random Pokémon, so I felt like his other Pokémon had to have a little bit of background.

Also, I'm going to do a little thing starting from now on called the "Question of the Day". This is just a little way for me to get more interaction with you all with various types of questions which could have anything or nothing to do with the story.

So here's today's **Question of the Day **- May currently has three Pokémon that not yet fully evolved. Which one do you think will evolve next?

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter! Let me know whether you liked it or not with a review or an answer to the question!


	25. Wanda and Riley

**VERDANTURF TOWN**

"Wow, that's beautiful," Lisia said of the small town in the horizon and picked up her pace towards it.

Verdanturf Town was a small town filled top to bottom with colorful flowers. The entire town's economy came from the buying and selling of flowers with the rest of the Hoenn Region. Additionally, the produce industry was also doing well. The soft soil in and around the town was good for farmers due to its ability to grow a variety of healthy berries.

After their hectic night, the trio decided to wake up late in the morning and head to Verdanturf Town. The town's Pokémon Contest was being held the next day so they would have to get there early to prepare. If May wanted to get a win and secure her name as one of Hoenn's top coordinators, Verdanturf was the place to do it. She had never been more mentally ready for anything in her life.

Lisia, on the other hand, did not intend to take part in the contest. As a Master Rank coordinator, she usually didn't find herself competing in contests of lower ranks. The contest that May was competing in was only a Normal Rank contest used for climbing the ranks. Lisia essentially would have swept the contest effortlessly with her experience, something that she really didn't enjoy doing.

"I'm so ready for this," May smirked and jogged towards the town.

"Hey, wait up!" Brendan called out to the two and sped up to catch up to them.

They arrived at the town's entrance arch and looked inwards. The wafting fruity aroma of Oran Berries began to fill their nostrils. The town seemed to look as if it were one with nature, medieval almost. At the back end of the town was a mountain with a large cave entrance at its base. The distant Rustboro City skyline indicated that the cave was probably the other end of the Rusturf Tunnel. Brendan and May took quick mental notes of the cave in case they ever needed a shortcut through Hoenn.

There was a lack of road system and most buildings were low rise at the same height as the Pokémon Center and PokéMart. Most of the homes seemed to be made of wood despite not entirely being log cabins. Each home had a garden of colorful flowers in both the front and backyards.

Despite all this, one giant building towered over the rest with a large golden star protruding from the top; the Verdanturf Contest Hall. It was mainly a red dome with golden pillars all around. Its difference in size and color made it easily distinguishable for tourists.

"That must be the contest hall..." May marveled at the tall building. "It's even more beautiful in person than I had imagined."

"Isn't your contest only tomorrow?" Brendan asked. "Why are we here today?"

"Because it's always good to, like, get a good start on where you wanna, like, go," Lisia explained. "What if something bad, like, happened tomorrow and we couldn't make it here, like, on time?"

"I guess that makes sense," Brendan shrugged. "But what are we gonna do for one whole day here?"

"There's so much to see in Verdanturf!" Lisia exclaimed and walked under the arch.

"Umm..." Brendan mumbled and took a look around the small town. "There are a few restaurants and that cave in the distance. What else do you see here?"

"Oh, don't be such a negative Nancy!" May scolded him. "Just take a look around town with us."

"Fine..."

The trio spent a good hour on Lisia's lead wandering around the small town to see if there was anything significant. Apart from a few restaurants and the contest hall, there didn't seem to be much to do. Brendan was right, they would have to find something to do for the entire day or they would face severe boredom.

"I hate to admit it, but there is honestly _nothing_ to do here..." Lisia groaned.

"But haven't you been here before?" May asked the contest star.

"I mean, like, I've been here and all, but all it took was a short flight on Ali to get here," Lisia explained. "I didn't really have to, like, plan out my trip to get here."

"So you've never actually seen the town for what it was?" Brendan asked.

"Nope, not really."

"Then I say it's my turn to lead the way around town," Brendan declared and stepped in front of the girls.

"What do you have in mind?" May asked curiously.

"I think we should go back through the cave in the mountain," Brendan told them. "It's the shortcut to Rustboro and I'd _much _rather spend my night there than here."

"Well, I don't have any better ideas," May shrugged. "I say we go."

"But... but..." Lisia darted her eyes at the two nervously. "I... uhh..."

"What's the matter?" Brendan asked.

"I mean, we really don't, like, have to go through that cave anyways," Lisia fake-chuckled. "Like, I mean, that cave is totally lame-o anyways, right?"

"Umm... huh?" Brendan shot her a confused look. "It's just a little cave."

"But... I mean... uhh..." Lisia stammered and closed her eyes tightly. "I'm, like, afraid of caves!"

"Are you kidding me?" Brendan asked monotonously. "It's just a small tunnel to the other side of the mountain."

"Yeah but caves are, like, dark and creepy," Lisia gritted her teeth. "And the Pokémon that live inside are _so icky_."

"But they're also full of adventure," May told her. "You never know what you're going to find when you walk into a cave."

"And that's why I hate them!" Lisia exclaimed. "Like, why do Golbat have to be so fucking weird! They just give you these really creepy looks with their wide-open mouths and make really painful noises. And don't even get me started on Geodude. You take one step in the wrong direction thinking it's a rock and they get all pissed off! Ugh!"

"But there's nothing in that cave but Whismur," May told her.

"How do you know?"

"We've been through there before," Brendan added in. "That's where I caught my Whismur."

"Oh, I guess that's not so bad then," Lisia huffed and calmed down. "I'll go with you _only _if you promise me that I won't die."

"We promise," Brendan groaned. "Now let's just get on with it."

Brendan led the girls to the back end of the town where the Rusturf mountain towered over the buildings. The cave entrance was large and dark so it was hard for them to see inside. There was a distinct loud echoing noise coming from within it.

"What's that noise?" Lisia asked and cowered behind Brendan.

"That sounds like all the Whismur that live in there," May answered and took an adventurous step into the cave. Before either of them knew it, she had gone in.

"They're that loud!" Lisia shrieked and looked at Brendan. "I'm not going in there!"

"Oh, come on."

"I'm sorry but this is exactly why I don't like caves."

"Too bad, we're still going in," Brendan told her flatly and pulled her into the darkness.

**RUSTURF TUNNEL**

Brendan navigated the darkness of the cave with Lisia closely behind him. Despite being only a small tunnel system between Rustboro and Verdanturf, it was still extremely dark with the only sources of light being the entrance. Not to mention the echoing of the Whismur added to the whole creepy tunnel effect.

"How do you know where you're going?" Lisia asked and blindly followed him. "You can't even see the end."

"Just follow the echoing of the Whismur," Brendan told her and led her through the tunnel. He suddenly ran into what seemed like a person. "Who's this?"

"It's me," May answered and turned in the darkness to see if she could make her friends out. "Watch where you're going."

"S-s-so what did you w-wanna do here?" Lisia asked with a shiver.

"I don't know, I just thought exploring this cave to see what it had would be cool," Brendan answered and walked ahead of the two. "I'm sure there are some cool stuff hidden in this darkness."

"Machop, use Karate Chop!" A voice shouted out from the distance.

Brendan, May, and Lisia perked their heads up at the commands. Since the cave was extremely small, it wasn't hard to follow the source of the voice. The trio ran down the dark halls of the cave until they found a familiar looking person commanding their Pokémon to attack the wall. The trainer had a cave flashlight strapped to the top of their head and looked intently at the wall in front of them. Realizing it was none other than Wally, Brendan ran next to him.

"What's going on here, dude?" He asked his friend.

"Huh?" The trainer turned around and looked at Brendan with confused eyes. Despite the flashlight blinding his eyes, Brendan could see that this was not Wally and was in fact a girl.

"You're not Wally..." Brendan said quietly. "Whoops, my bad."

"Wally?" The girl asked. "You must have mistaken me for my cousin, we do look very similar. My name is Wanda."

"Oh, well then it's no wonder you guys look the same!" Brendan exclaimed and looked to the small Machop. "What're you doing here?"

"My boyfriend is on the other end of this wall," Wanda sighed. "He's been digging and digging this tunnel without rest trying to make a shortcut to Verdanturf. However, he ran into this solid rock wall and can't make any progress."

"How long have you guys been stuck here?" May asked.

"It's been a few days since progress stopped," Wanda sulked.

"And you guys don't have any strong Pokémon that could take the wall down? Or at least don't know anyone who does?"

"Unfortunately, no," she answered. "Verdanturf isn't the prime town to be training Pokémon in, so this has been hard."

"Well fear not, we're here to make things better!" Brendan declared and pulled out a PokéBall from his belt. "In this PokéBall I have the Pokémon that will be the solution to your needs!"

"Just cut the corny crap and do your thing," May groaned and slapped her palm to her forehead.

"Aggron, I choose you!" Brendan exclaimed and threw his PokéBall at the wall.

"You can't be serious."

Aggron emerged from the PokéBall in a bright flash of white light and roared loudly. It looked towards Brendan and slammed its tail on the ground.

"Brendan, are you an idiot!?" May asked loudly.

"No, I'm not," Brendan reassured her and stood in front of the wall. "Now Aggron, I know you want to attack me."

Aggron glared at its trainer and roared loudly once again. It charged wildly for him.

"You're, like, going to get yourself killed!" Lisia exclaimed.

Before Aggron could do anything to him, Brendan jumped out of the way. His powerful Pokémon lunged at the wall and tore it down to the ground. The Pokémon fell into the pile of rubble as the cave was finally connected.

On the other side was a large man who appeared to be a bit tired and dusty.

"Aggron, return," Brendan shouted to his Pokémon and called it back to its PokéBall.

"Wanda!" The man smiled and ran to give the girl a hug.

"Riley!" She smiled back and buried her face in his chest. "It's been so long!"

"I missed you so much," Riley said to his girlfriend. He looked over to the trio. "Thank you guys. I really owe you a lot."

"It's no problem," Brendan nodded. "Anything for a relative of a friend."

"If you ever need anything, just give me a call," Riley told Brendan. "I'll be there in an instant. You don't know how much I appreciate being able to see my girlfriend now."

"Actually, why don't you three come over to my family's place?" Wanda offered the three trainers. "You guys can rest up if you want and since you know Wally, I'm sure he'd like to see you."

"Yeah, that'd be cool!" Brendan replied and looked to the two girls. They nodded in approval.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note: <strong>Sorry I wasn't able to update in a long time. I've been busy hanging out with friends I hadn't seen in a while and just focusing on my life. Additionally, this chapter was really hard to write and part of me feels like it was really forced. Don't forget to leave a review whether you liked it or not! You guys are awesome!

**Question of the Day: **How well do you think May is going to do in the Verdanturf Cotnest?


	26. Important Update

Hey guys, I'm going to temporarily leave this update up for a little bit. As some of you may have noticed, I haven't updated this story in a while. Haha, don't worry, nothing's wrong with me!

I've just been rewriting my outline for the story because I discovered a major plot fallout when I was writing ahead a bit. I realized that my current plot would destroy the story midway, so I've been spending a good while thinking of a way to fix this up. I'm happy to say that I'm almost complete with my tweaks to the plot and I promise once things can settle down the updates will be normal again!

Additionally, spring semester has started and my classes are starting to get a little more intense and major-related. As a result, this story is nowhere close to being the first thing on my mind. I hope you all understand!

TL;DR: Had to redo my plot and college is starting up. Updates will be back to normal soon.

Also, I'd like to thank Alphinia for giving me a little shout-out in her story! If you haven't already, go check out her story. She really gives her characters and locations an amazing amount of depth. I promise you'll be amazed!


End file.
